Biofiltration and kinetic aspects of a biotrickling filter for the removal of paint solvent mixture laden air stream

In the present study, removal of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), toluene, n-butyl acetate and o-xylene (MTBX) emitted from the paint industry was carried out in a coal based biotrickling filter. When the influent MTBX loadings were less than 120 g m −3 h −1, nearly 100% removal could be achieved. A maximum elimination capacity of 184.86 g m −3 h −1 was obtained at a MTBX load of 278.27 g m −3 h −1 with an empty bed residence time of 42.4 s in phase V. Results showed that the condition was the most favorable for n-butyl acetate degradation followed by MEK, toluene and then o-xylene. The corresponding maximum removal rate, r max values of MTBX were calculated as 0.085, 0.033, 0.16 and 0.024 g m −3 h −1, respectively. Standard deviation of error in prediction of MEK, toluene and o-xylene removal were within limit of 10%, while in the case of n-butyl acetate this was approximately 60%. The MTBX concentration profiles along the depth were also determined by using convection-diffusion reaction (CDR) model. It was observed that at low concentration and low flow rate, the model is in good agreement with the experimental values for MEK, toluene and n-butyl acetate, but for o-xylene the model results deviated from the experimental.