Exhaust gas purification using immobilised monocultures (biocatalysts)

Summary The paper is concerned with the purification of exhaust gases using biocatalysts in a trickle bed reactor. Substance specific strains (monocultures) which were, for example, immobilised on activated carbon served as biocatalyst. Technically important solvents and substances such as aldehydes, methyl ethyl ketone and ethyl acetate were used as pollutants. Their concentration was about 5–40 ppm in the exhaust gas to be purified. The experiments show that with suitable bacterial, strains space velocities of about k ^*=1500 h^-1 can be obtained at a conversion of 90%. The mass transfer through the liquid film around the activated carbon grains seems to be rate determining.