REDUCCIÓN DE LA CONTAMINACIÓN ATMOSFÉRICA: COMBINACIÓN DE MATERIALES DE SOPORTE EN BIOFILTROS

Abstract

Closed areas with heavy traffic such as road tunnels and underground parking lots usually present high levels of atmospheric pollution. Thus, the poor-quality air in those enclosures constitutes a health threat for commuters, regular users and workers. The presence of a fluctuating number of volatile organic and inorganic compounds in those confined spaces encourages the utilization of biological reactors (such as biofilters) for their removal. Biofilters are considered a cost-effective, reliable and safe alternative for treating moderately high loading rates of biodegradable pollutants present in air. As far as the system operation is concerned, the contaminated air stream passes through a bed containing a packing material where the biomass is attached, and thus, the contaminants are degraded by the action of the microorganisms. The nature of the packing material is a key factor for the successful application of any biofilter. Thus, this work focuses the influence of using a joint combination of different packing materials on the performance of volatile organic compounds (VOC) abatement. The contaminated inlet gas flow was generated in the laboratory by carefully mixing biodegradable volatile compounds usually found in motor vehicle exhaust gases. Keywords: Biofiltration; Packing material; Air pollution