Microbial ecology and kinetic study of a biofilter treating hydrogen sulfide and methanol

Abstract

Biofiltration is a preferred way of removing H2S and CH3OH, two important industrial air emissions. The microbial community of a H2S, CH3OH dual-biofilter system was studied using 16S rRNA gene libraries. The kinetic study was conducted using traditional reaction kinetics methodology. Biofilter-H received H2S only and Biofilter-HM received both H2S and CH3OH. Thiobacillus and Sulfobacillus dominated the microbial community after 20 days of H2S treatment. After CH3OH introduction, the microbial community shifted from Thiobacillus to a community with greater diversity which included CH3OH oxidizers. A one-tail t-test verified that the first order rate constant of Biofilter-HM (0.031?0.011/sec) after methanol introduction was higher than that for Biofilter-H (0.021?0.009/sec). With a higher first order rate constant, Biofilter- HM removed more H2S in the first order stage than Biofilter-H.