PRD Tech, Inc. articles

Emission of odors from ponds and lagoons occurs due to aerobic and anaerobic decomposition of organic solids to release hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and other organic by-products.  Aerobic biodegradation occurs near the water-air interface, where diffusion of oxygen occurs, while anaerobic degradation prevails mainly near the bottom of the pond or lagoon, where there is low or no dissolved oxygen in the water.  The biodegradation reactions that occur to release hydrogen sulfide and ammonia can b

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, there is growing public awareness of odors from waste water treatment plants, which mainly stems from the following observed trends:

• The public is less tolerant of objectionable odors from waste water treatment plants;
• Many waste water treatment plants have seen residential, commercial, or other developments established near the facility boundaries and fence lines, thereby increasing the population being affected by th

The thermal sludge conditioning process of U.S. Filter/Zimpro Corporation, Rothschild, Wisconsin (Zimpro process) is primarily used to improve dewatering characteristics of the waste sludge. The process entails a partial breakdown through oxidation and hydrolysis of complex, high molecular weight organic compounds, such as, proteins, fibers, carbohydrates, and fats. The partial breakdown of chemical bonding results in the formation of volatile compounds, mainly aldehydes, ketones, volatile organ

Pilot-scale study of a biotrickling filter using synthetic, high surface area media was undertaken by MSD Louisville, with the intention of saving the high cost of operating thermal oxidizers. Currently, two recuperative thermal oxidizers are used to treat odorous emissions from various sources. The pilot study showed that it is possible to treat hydrogen sulfide and organic sulfur compounds at high removal rates to achieve exit odor concentrations below the levels currently attained by the ther

Technologies for removal of hazardous pollutants from air have gained increased importance following the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA). Biofiltration is an emerging and attractive technology for the removal of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) present at low concentrations in air. Traditional VOC removal technologies involve physical or chemical processes such as adsorption, condensation, thermal incineration or catalytic conversion, etc. Compared to these technologies, biofiltration is c

Management of odor emissions generated during thermal sludge conditioning is a well known disadvantage of the “Zimpro” process. Traditional methods of using chemical oxidation and high temperature destruction result in the formation of secondary products, such as chlorine gas, organic halocarbons or nitrogen oxides. In this study, biotrickling filter technology was evaluated at the Villa Hills wastewater treatment plant, operated by Sanitation District No. 1 in Northern Kentucky. The objecti

Biofiltration refers to the biological transformation or treatment of contaminants present in the gas phase, usually air. The fact that air contaminants can be biodegraded by active bacteria has been known for quite some time. However, it is only in the last 10 years, that biofiltration has begun to emerge as an economically viable treatment process. Initially, biofiltration involved the use of naturally bioactive media, such as soil, peat, compost, etc. In naturally bioactive media, microorgani

This paper provides an overview of air biofiltration with experimental data on the performance of a synthetic media biofilter system. It is shown that use of high surface area per unit volume structured media results in higher contaminant treatment rates per unit biofilter volume. It is shown that use of specially designed synthetic media allows effective control of biomass buildup by continuous removal of biomass from the biofilter media and that the biomass removal rate depends on nutrient and

The support media is one of the most critical elements of a biofiltration system. In this chapter, biofilters and biotrickling filters will be referred to as “biofilter”, and this distinction will be discussed later in this chapter. The support media’s main function is to provide contact between the gas-phase contaminants and active microbial cultures either immobilized within and/or attached as a biofilm on the media’s surface. Other functions of the media are to distribute the gas flow

- Biofiltration of odors and volatile organicshas been practiced successfully for overthree decades

- Media used in biofiltration can be categorizedinto two main types:

* Natural Media –Compost, soil, peat
* Synthetic Media –plastic, ceramic.

- Currently, there is no systematic way ofcomparing the cost-performance of variousmedia