PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND KINETIC STUDIES ON REMOVAL OF BENZENE IN UP-FLOW TREE BARK BASED BIOFILTER Article Highlights

• The removal of benzene at different in loading rates were studied in a biofilter employing a novel biofilter media • The performance was evaluated in terms of removal efficiency and elimination cap-acity • The effect of flow rates of influent pollutant and biofilter bed height was studied • Carbon dioxide gas production profile was recorded and related with elimination cap-acity • Kinetic modeling was performed and the constants were estimated This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of Phoenix dactylifera tree barks as the novel filter medium in an upflow biofilter employing mixed culture to deg-rade benzene. The experiments were conducted at different benzene concen-trations (1.5-6.0 g m-3) and EBRT (1.2-4.7 min). The elimination capacity was found to vary linearly with inlet loading rate in the range of 0–306 g m–3 h–1. Removal efficiency of 99 % was achieved when the benzene concentration was 1.5 g m-3 and decreased with increase in benzene concentration. Lower flow rates resulted in higher benzene removal efficiency. The concentration profile was observed at different heights of filter media. Temperature increase during biofiltration experiments confirmed the exothermic nature of biofiltration. The carbon dioxide production rate was related to elimination capacity by the equation CPR = 1.76EC + 18. A Michaelis-Menten type model was applied and the kinetic constants, maximum elimination capacity, ECmax ’ and saturation constant, Ks were found to be 217.4 g m–3h–1 and 3.54 g m–3, respectively