Enhanced removal of ethylbenzene from gas streams in biotrickling filters by Tween-20 and Zn(II)

The effects of Tween-20 and Zn(II) on ethylbenzene removal were evaluated using two biotrickling filters (BTFs), BTF1 and BTF2. Only BTF1 was fed with Tween-20 and Zn(II). Results show that ethylbenzene removal decreased from 94% to 69% for BTF1 and from 74% to 54% for BTF2 with increased organic loading from 64.8 to 189.0 g ethylbenzene/(m3·hr) at EBRT of 40 sec. The effect of EBRT (60–15 sec) at a constant ethylbenzene inlet concentration was more significant than that of EBRT (30–10 sec) at a constant organic loading. Biomass accumulation rate within packing media was reduced significantly.