Odour and H2S degradation in a full scale biofilter with a mineral based organic coated filter media

[Abstract] In order to minimize the odorous emissions from sludge storage tanks on the waste water treatment plant «Niederrad» of the city of Frankfurt/Main, about 12.000 m3/h of foul air has to be treated. Due to high Hydrogen-Sulphide (H2S) loads, the installed standard biofilter systems failed operation after one year. Thus, one of the existing filter beds was filled with a mineral based organic coated material; the other one was re-filled at the same time with a standard biofilter media to allow a comparative study. In a long term monitoring program from May 2006 to June 2007, both media were compared regarding degradation of H2S and odour. The one-year measurement program revealed that the mineral high performance media performs much better then the standard organic media