Biofiltration of mixtures of gas-phase styrene and acetone with the fungus Sporothrix variecibatus

The biodegradation performance of a biofilter, inoculated with the fungus Sporothrix variecibatus, to treat gas-phase styrene and acetone mixtures under steady-state and transient conditions was evaluated. Experiments were carried out by varying the gas-flow rates (0.05–0.4 m3 h−1), leading to empty bed residence times as low as 17.1 s, and by changing the concentrations of gas-phase styrene (0.01–6.3 g m−3) and acetone (0.01–8.9 g m−3). The total elimination capacities were as high as 360 g m−3 h−1, with nearly 97.5% removal of styrene and 75.6% for acetone. The biodegradation of acetone was inhibited by the presence of styrene, while styrene removal was affected only slightly by the presence of acetone. During transient-state experiments, increasing the overall pollutant load by almost 3-fold, i.e., from 220 to 600 g m−3 h−1, resulted in a sudden drop of removal efficiency (>90–70%), but still high elimination capacities were maintained. Periodic microscopic observations revealed that the originally inoculated Sporothrix sp. remained present in the reactor and actively dominant in the biofilm.