Efficacy of wood charcoal and its modified form as packing media for biofiltration of isoprene.

The efficacy of wood charcoal (WC) and nutrient-enriched wood charcoal (NWC) as biofilter packing media were assessed for isoprene biodegradation in a bioreactor comprising bioscrubber and a biofilter connected in series and inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. The bioreactors using WC and NWC exhibited >90% removal efficiency and around 369 g m h elimination capacity at around 404 g m h inlet loading rate. In both the bioreactors, the biofilter component showed better degradation capacity compared to the bioscrubber unit. The kinetic parameters, maximum elimination capacity, EC; substrate constant, K and EC/K for Michaelis-Menten model were evaluated. The lower K for the WC packed bioreactor indicated that EC achieved, was faster compared to others, while higher EC and EC/K for the NWC packed bioreactor suggests its superiority in isoprene abatement in the continuous mode. A comparison of the available published information on biofiltration of isoprene reflected polyurethane foam as the superior packing media.