Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.88, No.4, 655-660, 2010
INTEGRATED PROCESS FOR HYDROPHOBIC VOC TREATMENT-SOLVENT CHOICE
A process coupling absorption of a gaseous pollutant in an organic phase and biodegradation was considered to treat hydrophobic volatile organic compounds (VOC). The purpose of this work was to choose the best solvent for the absorption of some VOC (dimethylsulfide, dimethyldisulfide, and toluene) and to examine solvent biodegradability as well as VOC biodegradation by activated sludge. Some experiments were carried out on some selected solvents leading to select di-2-ethylhexyl-adipate (DEHA) and poly-di-methyl-siloxane (PDMS) for their high absorption capacity. Biodegradation experiments showed that toluene and DMDS can be removed in solvent on water emulsions, while DMS removal by biodegradation remains to confirm owing to its high volatility. However, experiments showed DEHA biodegradation, contrarily to PDMS which was therefore selected for subsequent experiments.