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Lamprea-Pineda PA, Demeestere K, González-Cortés JJ, Boon N, Devlieghere F, Van Langenhove H, Walgraeve C. Addition of (bio)surfactants in the biofiltration of hydrophobic volatile organic compounds in air. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2024; 353:120132. [PMID: 38286067 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 01/31/2024]
Abstract
The removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air is of utmost importance to safeguard both environmental quality and human well-being. However, the low aqueous solubility of hydrophobic VOCs results in poor removal in waste gas biofilters (BFs). In this study, we evaluated the addition of (bio)surfactants in three BFs (BF1 and BF2 mixture of compost and wood chips (C + WC), and BF3 filled with expanded perlite) to enhance the removal of cyclohexane and hexane from a polluted gas stream. Experiments were carried out to select two (bio)surfactants (i.e., Tween 80 and saponin) out of five (sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), Tween 80, surfactin, rhamnolipid and saponin) from a physical-chemical (i.e., decreasing VOC gas-liquid partitioning) and biological (i.e., the ability of the microbial consortium to grow on the (bio)surfactants) point of view. The results show that adding Tween 80 at 1 critical micelle concentration (CMC) had a slight positive effect on the removal of both VOCs, in BF1 (e.g., 7.0 ± 0.6 g cyclohexane m-3 h-1, 85 ± 2% at 163 s; compared to 6.7 ± 0.4 g cyclohexane m-3 h-1, 76 ± 2% at 163 s and 0 CMC) and BF2 (e.g., 4.3 ± 0.4 g hexane m-3 h-1, 27 ± 2% at 82 s; compared to 3.1 ± 0.7 g hexane m-3 h-1, 16 ± 4% at 82 s and 0 CMC), but a negative effect in BF3 at either 1, 3 and 9 CMC (e.g., 2.4 ± 0.4 g hexane m-3 h-1, 30 ± 4% at 163 s and 1 CMC; compared to 4.6 ± 1.0 g hexane m-3 h-1, 43 ± 8% at 163 s and 0 CMC). In contrast, the performance of all BFs improved with the addition of saponin, particularly at 3 CMC. Notably, in BF3, the elimination capacity (EC) and removal efficiency (RE) doubled for both VOCs (i.e., 9.1 ± 0.6 g cyclohexane m-3 h-1, 49 ± 3%; 4.3 ± 0.3 g hexane m-3 h-1, 25 ± 3%) compared to no biosurfactant addition (i.e., 4.5 ± 0.4 g cyclohexane m-3 h-1, 23 ± 3%; hexane 2.2 ± 0.5 g m-3 h-1, 10 ± 2%) at 82 s. Moreover, the addition of the (bio)surfactants led to a shift in the microbial consortia, with a different response in BF1-BF2 compared to BF3. This study evaluates for the first time the use of saponin in BFs, it demonstrates that cyclohexane and hexane RE can be improved by (bio)surfactant addition, and it provides recommendations for future studies in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula Alejandra Lamprea-Pineda
- Research Group Environmental Organic Chemistry and Technology (EnVOC), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent Belgium.
| | - Kristof Demeestere
- Research Group Environmental Organic Chemistry and Technology (EnVOC), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent Belgium.
| | - José Joaquín González-Cortés
- Research Group Environmental Organic Chemistry and Technology (EnVOC), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent Belgium; Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Technology, Vine and Agri-Food Research Institute (IVAGRO), University of Cadiz, Pol. Río San Pedro s/n, Puerto Real, 11510, Cadiz Spain.
| | - Nico Boon
- Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent Belgium.
| | - Frank Devlieghere
- Research Group Food Microbiology and Food Preservation (FMFP), Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent Belgium.
| | - Herman Van Langenhove
- Research Group Environmental Organic Chemistry and Technology (EnVOC), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent Belgium.
| | - Christophe Walgraeve
- Research Group Environmental Organic Chemistry and Technology (EnVOC), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent Belgium.
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Abstract
Condensable gases are the sum of condensable and volatile steam or organic compounds, including water vapor, which are discharged into the atmosphere in gaseous form at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. Condensable toxic and harmful gases emitted from petrochemical, chemical, packaging and printing, industrial coatings, and mineral mining activities seriously pollute the atmospheric environment and endanger human health. Meanwhile, these gases are necessary chemical raw materials; therefore, developing green and efficient capture technology is significant for efficiently utilizing condensed gas resources. To overcome the problems of pollution and corrosion existing in traditional organic solvent and alkali absorption methods, ionic liquids (ILs), known as "liquid molecular sieves", have received unprecedented attention thanks to their excellent separation and regeneration performance and have gradually become green solvents used by scholars to replace traditional absorbents. This work reviews the research progress of ILs in separating condensate gas. As the basis of chemical engineering, this review first provides a detailed discussion of the origin of predictive molecular thermodynamics and its broad application in theory and industry. Afterward, this review focuses on the latest research results of ILs in the capture of several important typical condensable gases, including water vapor, aromatic VOCs (i.e., BTEX), chlorinated VOC, fluorinated refrigerant gas, low-carbon alcohols, ketones, ethers, ester vapors, etc. Using pure IL, mixed ILs, and IL + organic solvent mixtures as absorbents also briefly expanded the related reports of porous materials loaded with an IL as adsorbents. Finally, future development and research directions in this exciting field are remarked.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guoxuan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Environmental Catalysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Box 266, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Kai Chen
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering/State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
| | - Zhigang Lei
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Environmental Catalysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Box 266, Beijing 100029, China
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering/State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
| | - Zhong Wei
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering/State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
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He Y, Shen J, Alharbi NS, Chen C. Volatile organic compounds degradation by nonthermal plasma: a review. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2023; 30:32123-32152. [PMID: 36710313 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-25524-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have posed a severe threat on both ecosystem and human health which thus have gained much attention in recent years. Nonthermal plasma (NTP) as an alternative to traditional methods has been employed to degrade VOC in the atmosphere and wastewater for its high removal efficiency (up to 100%), mild operating conditions, and environmental friendliness. This review outlined the principles of NTP production and the applications on VOC removal in different kinds of reactors, like single/double dielectric barrier discharge, surface discharge, and gliding arc discharge reactors. The combination of NTP with catalysts/oxidants was also applied for VOC degradation to further promote the energy efficiency. Further, detailed explanations were given of the effect of various important factors including input/reactor/external conditions on VOC degradation performance. The reactive species (e.g., high-energy electrons, HO·, O·, N2+, Ar+, O3, H2O2) generated in NTP discharge process have played crucial roles in decomposing VOC molecules; therefore, their variation under different parameter conditions along with the reaction mechanisms involved in these NTP technologies was emphatically explained. Finally, a conclusion of the NTP technologies was presented, and special attention was paid to future challenges for NTP technologies in VOC treatment to stimulate the advances in this topic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan He
- Institute of Plasma Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Hefei, 230031, People's Republic of China
- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230000, People's Republic of China
| | - Jie Shen
- Institute of Plasma Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Hefei, 230031, People's Republic of China
| | - Njud S Alharbi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Changlun Chen
- Institute of Plasma Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Hefei, 230031, People's Republic of China.
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Gui C, Li G, Zhu R, Liu Q, Lei Z. Ionic Liquids for Capturing 1,2-Dimethoxyethane (DMET) in VOCs: Experiment and Mechanism Exploration. Ind Eng Chem Res 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.1c04554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chengmin Gui
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Box 266, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Guoxuan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Box 266, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Ruisong Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Box 266, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Qinghua Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Box 266, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Zhigang Lei
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Box 266, Beijing 100029, China
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
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