Treatment of n-hexane in fungal packed bed and stirred tank bioreactors containing two phases

• Autores: Sonia Arriaga, Raúl Muñoz, Sergio Hernández, Benoît Guieysse, Sergio Revah
• Localización: Biotechniques for air pollution control: proceedings of the international congress Biotechniques for Air Pollution Control : A Coruña, Spain, October 5-7, 2005 / Christian Kennes (dir. congr.), María C. Veiga (dir. congr.), 2005, ISBN 84-9749-163-7, págs. 337-342
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • The treatment of hydrophobic volatile pollutants is limited by the poor transfer of the compounds from the gaseous to the liquid biotic phase, where biodegradation occurs. Fungi have shown high Elimination Capacities (EC) with hydrophobic compounds through their increased transfer surface and more favorable partition. This study evaluates silicone oil for enhancing hexane transport and biodegradation by the fungus Fusarium solani in various bioreactor configurations. Silicone oil was first selected among various solvents for its biocompatibility, non-biodegradability and good partitioning properties. Biodegradation experiments were conducted in 1.5 L stirred tank or in 2.5 L packed bed biofilters fed with an hexane load of 180 g.m-3reactor.h-1 (EBRT: 1 min). Hexane EC of 120 g.m-3reactor.h-1 was obtained in the stirred tank bioreactor inoculated with Fusarium solani. The addition of 5% of silicone oil to a fungal biofilter improves hexane degradation to 180 g.m-3reactor.h- with a maximum of 360 g.m-3reactor.h-1. Control experiments without oil were around 40% lower. These results confirm that the use of an adequate organic phase enhances the transport and subsequently biodegradation of hydrophobic compounds such as hexane.