Removal of dimethyl sulphide via a bio-scrubber under anoxic conditions

Abstract

The removal performance of dimethyl sulphide (DMS) by anoxic laboratory-scale bio-scrubber was studied under different operation conditions for 315 days. DMS removal in bio-scrubber system was performed by controlling and changing the operation parameters, including inlet concentration, empty bed residence time (EBRT) and spraying density (SD) of irrigation. Best conditions in the system were achieved for SD of 0.18 m3/m2 h within EBRT of 40 s at an inlet gas concentration of 150 mg/m3 in which 93% of waste gas stream was removed in the bio-scrubber column and bio-degradation in the bio-reactor tank led to 89% of DMS removal from the transferred bio-reactor, while 91.5% of input chemical oxygen demand (COD) was successfully removed. The use of closer values of the average experimental yield to the theoretical value (YNO3/NO3 -) of 0.74 led to the production of elemental sulphur (S°) and other sulphur forms rather than sulphate (SO42-) , which was also was recognized as a pale-yellow coloured substance of S° that appeared within the biomass.