ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Monitoring and efficiency assessment of biofilter air deodorization using electronic nose prototype

Bartosz Szulczyński, Jacek Gębicki, and Jacek Namieśnik

Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland

E-mail: bartosz.szulczynski@pg.edu.pl

Abstract: Biofiltration is one of the techniques used to reduce odorants in the air. It is based on the aerobic degradation of pollutants by microorganisms located in the filter bed. The research presents the possibility of using the electronic nose prototype for monitoring and efficiency assessment of air biofiltration. The study was conducted using model gas mixtures containing representatives of three groups of chemical compounds: n-hexane (alkanes), acetone (ketones) and toluene (aromatic hydrocarbons). Based on the proposed linear models it has been shown that the determination of concentrations of these substances in the ternary mixture is possible at relatively low concentrations. It was also shown that the used filter medium (pine bark) had the highest removal efficiency of acetone.

Keywords: Odorants ; Biofiltration ; Electronic nose ; Metal oxide sensors ; Odours concentration ; GC-FID 

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-017-0310-9

Chemical Papers 72 (3) 527–532 (2018)