A comparison of removal performance of volatile organic and sulfurous compounds between odour abatement systems

Abstract

Three types of odour abatement systems in sewer networks in Australia were studied for 18 months to determine the removals of different compounds. Six volatile sulfurous compounds and seven volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were further investigated. All types of odour abatement systems exhibited good removal of hydrogen sulfide with the biotrickling filters (BTFs) showing the highest consistent removal. Biofilters outperformed BTFs and activated carbon (AC) filters in the removal of dimethyl mono-, di- and tri-sulfide species at the low inlet concentrations typically found. AC filters exhibited little VOC removal with no compound consistently identified as having a removal greater than 0%. Biofilters outperformed BTFs in VOC removal, yet both had high removal variability.