Author(s)

W.M. Moe & R.L. Irvine

Abstract

Biological treatment is a preferred option for removing and destroying volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in many contaminated gases associated with environmental clean-up and pollution control problems. In conventional biofilter operation, a contaminated gas stream is continuously passed through a packed bed containing microorganisms which biodegrade the contaminant of concern. Such passive operation limits an operator's ability to control the spatial distribution or physiological state (i.e., robustness) of the organisms. Periodic processes have long been used in wastewater treatment to select, enrich and manipulate the members of a microbial consortium to have specific, desirable characteristics which minimize the uncertainty accompanyin

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