A Review on Experimental and Mathematical Modeling Studies of Bioremoval of Gaseous Pollutants in Biofilters

The present paper is a review paper which explains and analyses the recent mathematical modeling and experimental studies on removal of the gaseous pollutants by biofiltration. Also, the comparison of these studies is carried out on the basis of differences in experimental methods and modeling approaches. This study shows that however the biofiltration systems have been considered through several experimental studies, but the results have been not used for developing of comprehensive empirical correlations which could be used in similar operating conditions and systems. It seems this is due to complicated nature of such systems and abundance of effective operating parameters. Also the analysis of modeling studies shows that any of the proposed models have not adequate universality. Nonetheless, the results of the models with oversimplifying assumptions have enough accuracy, especially when the results of the models are compared with the experimental data presented by the same authors. Results of this analysis also show that still, there is a large scientific deficiency in predicting of main and important parameters in the modeling of biofilters, including the kinetic of reactions, the actual mass and heat transfer area, and the non-uniform distribution of microorganism. Therefor, many of the mathematical models are based on the oversimplifying assumptions for the main parameters.