BIOSCRUBBING VOLATILE NITROAROMATIC POLLUTANTS FROM AIR: BENCH-SCALE FEASIBILITY STUDY

THE CONTROL OF NITROAROMATIC AIR POLLUTANTS BY BIOSCRUBBING WILL BE EVALUATED AS TO THEIR FEASIBILITY AND EFFICIENCY IN BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS. A MICROBIAL CONSORTIUM ENRICHED ON SELECTED NITROAROMATIC AIR POLLUTANTS SUCH AS NITROBENZENE OR NITROTOLUENE WILL BE IMMOBILIZED ON A POROUS SOLID MATRIX PACKED INTO A SCRUBBING COLUMN. MEASURED VOLUMES OF AIR, CONTAINING KNOWN CONCENTRATIONS OF THE NITROAROMATIC POLLUTANTS, WILL BE PASSED THROUGH THE COLUMN. UNDER STEADY STATE CONDITIONS, INLET, OUTLET AND ON-COLUMN POLLUTANT CONCENTRATIONS (G/M3) WILL BE MONITORED BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY. THE INFLUENCE OF FLOW RATES (M3/M2/H) AND OF SOLVENT CONCENTRATIONS (G/M3), ON REMOVAL RATES (G/M3 PACKING/H) WILL BE EVALUATED. THE PARAMETERS RELATED TO COMMERCIALIZATION POTENTIAL SUCH AS MAXIMAL REMOVAL RATES, REMOVAL EFFICNENCY (LOWEST EMISSION LEVELS ACHIEVED) AND USEFUL LIFETIME OF THE SCRUBBING COLUMNS WILL BE DETERMINED. INNOVATIVE BIOSCRUBBING TECHNOLOGY WILL HELP IN ATTAINING THE GOALS OF THE 1990 CLEAN AIR ACT AMENDMENTS AT A REASONABLE COST. COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDE PRODUCERS AND USERS OF EXPLOSIVES, PESTICIDES, HERBICIDES, DYES AND INDUSTRIAL SOLVENTS AND SYNTHETIC PRODUCT PRECURSORS.