Work

Casuarina seed-packed biofilter for the treatment of gaseous mixture: Performance, optimization, synergistic effects, neural model analysis, and kinetics

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Assessing the interactions and biodegradation of multicomponent gas streams is crucial for understanding industrial operations. Thus, the lab-scale casuarina seed-packed biofilter was performed with industrial settings i.e. different inlet concentrations of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) in a mixture for their synchronized removal. Comparative computational models were studied using response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the individual pollutant performance in terms of removal efficiency (RE) and elimination capacity (EC). The synergistic effects of the individual pollutants load on the RE and EC were studied effectively. The response surface plots indicated that the developed biofilter could potentially eliminate multicomponent in the order of benzene>xylene>toluene with the decreasing order of toluene>xylene>benzene inlet concentrations. The RSM model prediction was cross verified by investigating the causal index (CI) analysis, applied to govern the effect of one variable on another beyond mere connection. The CI analysis confirmed that the toluene and xylene had a negative effect on their own RE and had positive effects on other pollutant performance; however, toluene vigorously supported the benzene and xylene biodegradation. The computational models show significant fluctuation in predicting responses due to substrate competitive inhibition, accumulation of toxic intermediates, and increasing multipollutant loads. Finally, the mathematical model was employed to predict the theoretical EC and average biofilm thickness at different regimes of biofiltration. The identified significant interaction information is more beneficial in designing and operating the multicomponent biofilter rationally.

Source: Journal of environmental chemical engineering

DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2025.116689

Authors: Divya Baskaran, Saravanan Viswanathan, Hun-Soo Byun

Institutions: Chonnam National University, Saveetha University, Annamalai University

Language: English

Topic: Odor and Emission Control Technologies

Subfield: Process Chemistry and Technology

Field: Chemical Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Clean water and sanitation

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,350