In this paper we evaluate the performance of a biotrickling filter for the abatement of composting emissions at gas contact times of 2–10 s. Performance with a structured packing is compared with Polyurethane Foam as packing material. The effect of the gas contact time, pH control and water make-up flowrate were also evaluated. Results demonstrate that significant NH3 and VOCs removal efficiencies can be achieved for composting emissions in a biotrickling filter operated at short gas contact times, which entails a substantial reduction of operational and investment costs in comparison to traditional techniques.
This work has been done in collaboration with the reserach group TRAGASOL from UPC (Manresa) as part of a private agreement with ECOTEC, Ecología Técnica S.A.