Veiga, María CarmenKennes, Christian2014-12-122014-12-122001-03Veiga MC, Kennes C. Parameters affecting performance and modeling of biofilters treating alkylbenzene-polluted air. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2001;55(2):254-8DOI:10.1007/s002530000491http://hdl.handle.net/2183/13872Both short-term and long-term biofiltration experiments were undertaken with a biofilter inoculated with a defined microbial consortium and treating an alkylbenzene mixture. The results obtained with such a biofilter in short-term experiments were very similar to those obtained with a biofilter inoculated with a non-defined mixed culture, in terms of maximum elimination capacities (70–72 g m–3 h–1) and the corresponding removal efficiencies (>95%). However, in long-term experiments, a better performance was reached, with a maximum elimination capacity of 120 g m–3 h–1, corresponding to a removal efficiency >99% after 2 years of operation. Inoculation proved to be useful for shortening the start-up period. In the long term, it appeared that biomass distribution was not homogenous along the biofilter, which in some cases resulted in a bad fit between simple model equations and experimental data.engThe final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s002530000491BiofilterAlkylbenzeneAir pollutantsBiodegradationBioreactorjournal articleopen access