Title: Biofiltration of ammonia-contaminated air streams using porous compost and processed soil filters media

Authors: Saeed Motesaddi Zarandi; Mohammad Reza Massoudinejad; Mohammad Bagher Miranzadeh; Zahra Tavakoli; Rouhullah Dehghani; Sajjad Hajiketabi; Ashraf Mazaheri Tehrani

Addresses: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ' Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ' Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran ' Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran ' Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran ' Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran ' Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

Abstract: The aim of our study was to compare ammonia removal from the air stream using biofilters containing porous compost and processed soil. The performances of biofilters were studied under different flow rates and NH3 concentrations at 25°C and moisture (4080%). The obtained results demonstrated that the efficiency rate was decreased with the increasing of flow rate and ammonia concentration. The efficiency of porous compost bed varied between 84.6-98.2% while for processed soil bed was between 91.5-100%. Maximum efficiency for both of the beds occurred at a loading rate of 0.19 g NH3 m−3 h−1. Also, findings were shown that processed soil and porous compost beds were efficient for removal of ammonia up to 20 ppm concentration at a flow rate of 1 lit. min−1 during 240 seconds. In conclusion, our study revealed that the processed soil bed was better than the porous compost one for ammonia removal from the contaminated air stream.

Keywords: air pollution; ammonia removal; biofiltration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2016.083662

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2016 Vol.19 No.5/6, pp.432 - 443

Accepted: 16 Jan 2017
Published online: 14 Apr 2017 *

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