Microbial dynamics and bioreactor stability in an oil-absorber-bioscrubber system exposed to an alternating sequence of 1,2-dichloroethane and fluorobenzene

A study was carried out to investigate the potential for an oil-absorber placed upstream to a bioscrubber configuration to act as buffer for sequentially alternating loads of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) and fluorobenzene (FB) in waste gas streams. A bioscrubber system (without the oil-absorber present) was inoculated with strain F11 and Xanthobacter autotrophicus strain GJ10 and was submitted to sequential alternations of the pollutant fed (DCE and FB). The re-introduction of the substrates after each cycle caused system instability. An oil-absorber, utilizing a cost effective and environmentally friendly absorbent (Sunflower Oil), was introduced prior to the bioscrubber to control the negative effects caused by the sequential switches in the feed composition between DCE and FB. The performance of the combined Oil-Absorber-Bioscubber system was stable after the substrates re-introduction following each switch in the feed. The combined Oil-Absorber-Bioscrubber system is a robust technology, offering an effective solution to the biological treatment of waste-gas streams. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2006 AIChE Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA 11/12-17/2006).