Biotechnology for air pollution control - An overview

Abstract

Biotechnology offers themoste conomical and environmentally benign method for air pollution control when dealing with the removal of odorous and toxic contaminants from industrial and municipal airstreams. When emitted inlarge amounts, volatile organic compounds (VOC s) and inorganic odorous compounds create hazards to the ecosystem and health effects to humans. Substances such as ammonia, amines, hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide, and dimethyl disulfide cause odor nuisance in the environment. Increase in population density, new development of housing and industrial facilities create a growing need for air pollution control systems that provide nuisance-free, breathable air. This chapter provides an overview ofvarious biotechnological methods used in odor and air pollution control. The need for the removal of odors and VOC s is driven by regulatory issues, generally enforced as a result of public complaints about poor local air quality and through emission monitoring by the enforcement agencies. In the early1990s, it was not an easy task for an industry to select a biotechnology system to reduce odor or VOC air emissions as a means of compliance. In Chapter 2, the details on odor and VOC control laws, regulatory measures to handle citizen's complaints, performance standards required for biological treatment systems, and review of regulations in several countries are discussed. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.