Transporting liquid waste is a continuously growing activity in several industries. This transportation is made in trucks and sea containers. Often, the liquid transported contains Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and odours. The process of washing and cleaning the truck tanks usually involves the emission of odours and VOCs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the odour abatement efficiency of a multistage hybrid approach consisting of alkaline scrubbing, condenser, adsorption with impregnated Al2O3 + active carbon (AC), and the injection of a deodorizing product to abate odour and VOC emission. In addition, the second aim of this study was to show that the use of these sequential technologies reduce VOC emissions below the limit of 100 mg/m³ set in the environmental authorisation.
Before the abatement system was installed, VOC concentration was measured over a week averaging 200 mg/Nm³. After the installation of the abatement system, the results showed that the average VOC concentration was always well below the legal limit. In addition, when washing activities took place, the odour concentration measured at the inlet, and outlet of the abatement system was 5000 ouE/m3 and 150 ouE/m3, respectively. This was a 97% odour abatement efficiency.
In this work, a new biotechnology based on latex biofilms was developed and tested for VOC abatement in the context of indoor air. Four VOCs – hexane, trichloroethylene, toluene and pinene – of different solubilities were selected as model pollutants. A mixed bacteria culture enriched from activated sludge was used as inoculum for the experiments. The removal efficiency (RE) of the pollutants was evaluated for different biofilm mixtures, which involved variations in the water content, the presence of water retainers, the latex pre-treatment, and the biomass concentration.