A comparison of the performance of bacterial biofilters and fungal-bacterial coupled biofilters in BTE

Background: Conventional biofilters, which rely on bacterial activity, face challenges in eliminating hydrophobic compounds, such as aromatic compounds. This is due to the low solubility of these compounds in water, which makes them difficult to absorb by bacterial biofilms. Furthermore, biofilter operational stability is often hampered by acidification and drying out of the filter bed. Methods: Two bioreactors, a bacterial biofilter (B-BF) and a fungal-bacterial coupled biofilter (F&B-BF) were inoculated with activated sludge from the secondary sedimentation tank of the Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Company wastewater treatment plant located in Nanjing, China. For approximately 6 months of operation, a F&B-BF was more effective than a B-BF in eliminating a gas-phase mixture containing benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and Results: After operating for four months, the F&B-BF showed higher removal efficiencies for toluene (T), ethylbenzene (E), benzene (B), and Conclusions: It was found that a starvation protocol was beneficial for the stable operation of both the B-BF and F&B-BF. Community structure analysis showed that the bacterial genus