Treatment of Paint Spray Booth Off-Gases in a Fungal Biofilter

Abstract

Biological processes, most notably biofilters and biotrickling filters, are increasingly used to remove and biodegrade a wide variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in gas streams emitted from industrial operations. In the research described herein, a laboratory-scale biofilter was operated for a period of more than 180 days to treat a waste gas comprised of a four-component VOC mixture representative of solvents present in off-gases emitted by painting operations. The biofilter, packed with a cubed polyurethane foam media and initially inoculated with a pure culture of the fungus