Use of porous glass media for a biofilter to remove odorous compounds from an air stream

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10159932-B2
Application number	US-201514920407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2015
Priority date	May 6, 2014
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

A system for removing undesirable compounds from contaminated air includes a biofilter having porous glass media. Hydrogen sulfide is removed from contaminated air by passing the contaminated air through the biofilter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gas phase biofilter for the treatment of contaminated air, the biofilter comprising:
a contaminated air inlet;
a treated air outlet; and
a media bed including foamed glass media in fluid communication between the contaminated air inlet and the treated air outlet, the foamed glass media including from about 80% to about 90% empty space and having a density of about 0.2 grams/cm 3 , individual pieces of the foamed glass media having dimensions of between about 0.5 inches to about one inch across and including passageways extending from first surfaces of the individual pieces to second surfaces of the individual pieces.

2. The biofilter of claim 1 , wherein the foamed glass media comprises silicon dioxide.

3. The biofilter of claim 2 , wherein the foamed glass media includes surface pores.

4. The biofilter of claim 2 , wherein the foamed glass media includes internal voids.

5. The biofilter of claim 2 , wherein the foamed glass media comprises recycled glass.

6. The biofilter of claim 1 , further comprising a population of hydrogen sulfide oxidizing bacteria disposed on the foamed glass media.

7. The biofilter of claim 6 , operable to reduce a concentration of hydrogen sulfide in contaminated air including greater than 100 ppm hydrogen sulfide by more than about 95% when the contaminated air is passed through the media bed of the biofilter at a flow rate of from zero to 500 cubic meters per hour per cubic meter of media bed volume.

8. The biofilter of claim 7 , operable to reduce the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air by more than about 95% when the contaminated air is passed through the media bed of the biofilter at a flow rate of greater than about 500 cubic meters per hour per cubic meter of media bed volume.

9. The biofilter of claim 7 , operable to reduce the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air by more than about 99% when the contaminated air is passed through the media bed of the biofilter at a flow rate of from zero to 500 cubic meters per hour per cubic meter of media bed volume.

10. The biofilter of claim 9 , operable to reduce the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air by more than about 99% when the contaminated air is passed through the media bed of the biofilter at a flow rate of greater than about 500 cubic meters per hour per cubic meter of media bed volume.

11. A method of removing an undesirable compound from contaminated air, the method comprising flowing the contaminated air through a gas phase biofilter including a contaminated air inlet, a treated air outlet, and a media bed including foamed glass media in fluid communication between the contaminated air inlet and the treated air outlet, the foamed glass media including from about 80% to about 90% empty space and having a density of about 0.2 grams/cm 3 , individual pieces of the foamed glass media having dimensions of between about 0.5 inches to about one inch across and including passageways extending from first surfaces of the individual pieces to second surfaces of the individual pieces.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising filling a media bed compartment of the biofilter at least partially with the foamed glass media prior to flowing the contaminated air through the biofilter.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising growing a population of hydrogen sulfide oxidizing bacteria on the foamed glass media.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising maintaining the population of hydrogen sulfide oxidizing bacteria on the foamed glass media.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
measuring a concentration of nutrient in one of a fluid within and exiting the biofilter; and
adjusting an amount of nutrient added to the media bed compartment per unit of time responsive to the concentration of the nutrient in the fluid being outside of a predetermined range.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein removing the undesirable compound from the contaminated air comprises removing hydrogen sulfide from the contaminated air.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein removing the hydrogen sulfide from the contaminated air comprises reducing a concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air by more than about 95% by passing the contaminated air at a flow rate of from about zero to about 250 cubic meters per hour per cubic meter of a media bed of the biofilter including the foamed glass media through the media bed.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein reducing the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air comprises reducing the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air by more than about 99%.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein removing the hydrogen sulfide from the contaminated air comprises reducing a concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air by more than about 95% by passing the contaminated air at a flow rate of greater than about 500 cubic meters per hour per cubic meter of the media bed through the media bed.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein reducing the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air comprises reducing the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the contaminated air by more than about 99%.

Assignees

• Evoqua Water Tech Llc

Inventors

• Matheis Timothy Frank

Classifications

• B01D53/52

  Hydrogen sulfide · CPC title

• B01D53/85 Primary

  with gas-solid contact · CPC title

• B01D2251/95

  Specific microorganisms · CPC title

• B01D2258/06

  Polluted air · CPC title

• Y02A50/2359

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic