Reducing Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds - Final Report - 08/15/1997 - 02/14/2001

The overall objective of this research was to determine if the shallow suspended growth reactor (SSGR) could provide sufficient treatment performance of organic and reduced sulfur (TRS) compounds, at 50 C to meet the EPA ''cluster rule'' regulatory limits. The biodegradation of a mixture of organic compounds that could be present in pulp and paper high volume low concentration gas streams was evaluated at 50 C in a bench-scale SSGR. The removal of methanol was followed in particular, and was mathematically modeled to evaluate the effect of process design and operating parameters on methanol removal. Additional tests were performed to obtain mass transfer and biodegradation kinetic parameters for the model. The acclimation of microbial populations capable of degrading TRS compounds from various seed sources was studied in batch reactors at 30 and 50 C. The degradation of TRS compounds in bench-scale SSGR was studied at 20-50 C. Also, the biodegradation kinetic and mass transfer coefficients for alpha-terpinene and gamma-terpinene were studied. Finally, a pilot plant was constructed and operated at Simpson pulp and paper mill in Tacoma, WA