Biological treatment of VOCs

Biolgical treatment methods offer several advantages over the chemical and physical processes for removing volatile organic compounds (VOC) from the air. The advantages of biotreatment include lower operating and capital costs, removal of VOCs without the production of toxic byproducts, and its ability to operate at ambient temperature without the need for high-temperature regeneration steps. Biological methods for treating VOCs include the use of biofilters, biotrickling filters, bioscrubbers, suspended growth reactors, and membrane bioreactors. Several biological treatment processes use a fixed biofilm which is a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced, polymeric matrix and attached to an inert or living surface. It is important to combine more than one treatment procedure as biological systems can fail during sudden peaks in loading.