Bio-catalyst solution for developing countries

The industrialised nations are well-practised with dealing with environmental problems, although difficulties still occur. But in the developing world, the process sectors often face the same challenges, but with many more obstacles to handling them.

Abatement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a particular problem, because the high treatment costs and complex technology needed are insurmountable drawbacks.

A team from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh is working on a low-cost solution to the problem, using a biological process intensification method.

Using 2-propanol (IPA) as a model pollutant, Malinee Leethochawalit and colleagues have devised a two-stage process to degrade VOCs.

In the first stage, the IPA passes over a fixed bed of a first-row transition metal oxide catalyst at atmospheric pressure and 80–200°C.It then passes through a biofilter, packed with cylindrical sintered glass rings onto which the researchers had immobilised solvent-tolerant bacteria.

The results were very promising, Leethochawalit says — the first stage significantly reduced the solvent levels even in high-concentration streams.