Temperature and moisture effect on spore emission in the fungal biofiltration of hydrophobic VOCs

Alberto Vergara-Fernández*, Vanida Salgado-Ísmodes, Miguel Pino, Sergio Hernández, Sergio Revah

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effect of temperature and moisture on the elimination capacity (EC), CO2 production and spore emission by Fusarium solani was studied in biofilters packed with vermiculite and fed with n-pentane. Three temperatures (15, 25 and 35°C) were tested and the highest average EC (64 g m -3 h-1) and lower emission of spores (2.0 × 10 3 CFU m-3 air) were obtained at 25°C. The effect of moisture content of the packing material indicates that the highest EC (65 g m-3 h-1) was obtained at 50% moisture. However, lowest emission (1.3 × 103 CFU m-3 air) was obtained at 80% moisture. Furthermore, the results show that a slight decrease in spore emission was found with increasing moisture content. In all cases, the depletion of the nitrogen source in the biofilter induced the sporulation, a decay of the EC and increased spore emission.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)605-613
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Environmental Science and Health - Part A Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering
Volume47
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Mar 2012
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The present research has been sponsored by the CONICYT-Chile (National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research) (FONDECYT Project Number 11080036).

Keywords

  • Fungal biofiltration
  • Fusarium solani
  • Hydrophobic VOCs
  • Moisture
  • Spore emission
  • Temperature

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