Performance improvement of a biofilter by using gel-encapsulated microorganisms assembled in a 3D mesh material.

• Gel capsules have three dimensional polymer network and rich pore structure. • Gel-encapsulated biofilter show a better removal performance than control. • Microorganisms show a higher activity in gel capsules than in control. • Gel-encapsulated biofilter shows short recovery time after shock loading. • Gel-encapsulated and control biofilters present different microbial communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]