Elimination of high VOC loads in a chemical industry
Aeris Tecnologías Ambientales S.L. has collaborated with an important chemical company, designing, building and operating a highly innovative biological system for the purification of polluted industrial air. The gaseous stream to be treated, with a flow around 100,000 m3/h, contains high concentrations of VOCs potentially harmful to the health and the environment.
The design of the system has been based on scientific information generated in a previous research project executed by researchers from Aeris Tecnologías Ambientales S.L. However, the specific characteristics of this current have motivated a complete rethinking of the process. After several pilot-scale tests and a detailed technical and economic analysis, it has been concluded that the optimal process for treatment is a bioscrubber.
The system, comprising an absorption tower, an aerated activated sludge bioreactor and a solid/liquid separation device, has been entirely designed and built by Aeris Tecnologías Ambientales S.L. Since its start-up, the bioscrubber has shown purification efficiency values above 99%, and very low operating costs.
This system is, as far as we know, the largest reactor of its kind in operation in Europe. In addition to being economical and highly efficient, it can quickly adapt to the treatment of other gaseous pollutants, such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide or a wide variety of VOCs.
