Removal of a mixture of formaldehyde and methanol vapors in biotrickling filters under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions: Potential application in ethanol production

Figures & data

Table 1. Different phases of operation for both mesophilic and thermophilic BTFs, with various operating conditions such as duration, influent concentration, loading rate, elimination capacity, and removal efficiency. Error ranges represent one standard deviation

Phase	Duration(Days)	Target Influent Concentration(ppmv)	Average Loading Rate(g m^−3 h^−1)	Average EliminationCapacity(g m^−3 h^−1)	Average Removal Efficiency (%)
Mesophilic BTF
I	16	20	2.4 $\pm$ 1.8	2.2 $\pm$ 1.6	90.1 $\pm$ 12.4
II	18	50	6.4 $\pm$ 3.7	5.87 $\pm$ 3.3	99.0 $\pm$ 2.0
III	12	100	17.6 $\pm$ 1.5	17.0 $\pm$ 1.8	99.5 $\pm$ 0.7
Thermophilic BTF
I	16	20	2.3 $\pm$ 1.5	2.1 $\pm$ 1.5	97.0 $\pm$ 6.0
II	18	50	6.8 $\pm$ 4.0	6.8 $\pm$ 3.9	92.0 $\pm$ 10.0
III	12	100	18.3 $\pm$ 1.1	18.2 $\pm$ 1.2	96.7 $\pm$ 3.0

Figure 1. Loading rate versus elimination capacity curves for each biotrickling filter (BTF).

Table 2. Different operation phases for both mesophilic and thermophilic BTFs, with operating conditions such as duration, influent concentration, loading rate, elimination capacity, and removal efficiency for methanol biodegradation. Error ranges represent one standard deviation

Phase	Duration (Days)	Target Influent Concentration (ppmv)	Average Loading Rate (g m^−3 h^−1)	Average Elimination Capacity (g m^−3 h^−1)	Average Removal Efficiency (%)
Mesophilic BTF
II	18	12	3.5 $\pm$ 1.9	3.4 $\pm$ 1.9	97.6 $\pm$ 3.3
III	12	24.5	5.5 $\pm$ 1.2	5.4 $\pm$ 1.2	97.1 $\pm$ 6.1
Thermophilic BTF
II	18	12	$3.7\pm$ 1.8	3.4 $\pm$ 1.8	92.8 $\pm$ 5.0
III	12	24.5	5.0 $\pm$ 1.3	4.9 $\pm$ 1.2	97.9 $\pm$ 3.7

Figure 2. Loading rate versus elimination capacity for methanol degradation.

Table 3. Summary of methanol biofiltration studies

Substrate	Loading rate (g m^−3 h^−1)	Elimination capacity (g m^−3 h^−1)	Packing material	pH of bed	Bed temperature (°C)	EBRT (s)	Reference
Methanol H2S	480.0 41.0	380.0 36.0	Polypropylene pall rings	7.0	30	16.0	(Sologar, Lu, and Allen 2003)
Methanol Formaldehyde	4.0 46.2	2.3 41.2	Lava rock	6.0	25	71.7	(Prado, Veiga, and Kennes 2004)
Methanol n-hexane	64.5 13.2	63.7 8.4	Diatomaceous earth	7.0	25	120	(Zehraoui, Hassan, and Sorial 2013)
Methanol	414	330	Yeast: peptone: dextrose 1:1:2	5.5	25	96	(Guerrero et al. 2019)
Methanol Dimethyl Sulfide	140 10	80 2.5	Nova inert	7	25	40	(Zhang, Liss, and Allen 2007)

Figure 3. Carbon mass balance for (a) mesophilic BTF (25°C) and (b) thermophilic BTF (60°C). The line plot shows the amount of influent carbon in each BTF, and the stacked bar graph shows the composition of carbon in effluent sources.

Figure 4. Loading rate versus elimination capacity of BTFs at 16°C and 40°C.

Figure 5. Loading rate versus elimination capacity for methanol biodegradation.

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Data availability statement

The data is available upon request from AAH at [email protected].