The application of Brij 35 in biofiltration of the air polluted with toluene vapours

Abstract

Removal of certain organic pollutants from the environment may be hindered due to their weak water solubility and high vapour pressure. In particular, these are factors that limit the application of biological methods in remediation since they have an influence on the bio-accessibility of the xenobiotics. For that reason, we carried out research on the use of surface-active agents that have impact on the increase in solubility of hydrophobic compounds. In this publication, we present the results of laboratory tests on the application of Brij 35 in purification of the air polluted with toluene vapours by the biofiltration method. Within the range of surfactant concentrations subjected to the research (200, 300, 400 mg/dm3), we observed an improvement of the removal efficiency as compared to the control series (without the surfactant).