The use of surfactant from the Tween group in toluene biofiltration

Due to the lower energy consumption and waste production compared to traditional methods, the environmental bioremediation methods based on natural processes have been gradually becoming more prevalent in environmental engineering. Biological methods are used in waste management, wastewater treatment, gas treatment or soil remediation. For the low solubility of some pollutants and lower bioavailability, the use of biological methods may be hampered. This problem might be mitigated with the use of surfactants. This paper presents the results of studies regarding the effect of dosing a selected surfactant from the Tween group (Tween 20) on the efficiency of toluene elimination from the air by biofiltration. The obtained maximum biofiltration rate was 21.2 g/m³/h and 19.8 g/m³/h for the control bed and for the bed to which the Tween 20 solution was dosed, respectively. The effect of Tween was neutral (the effectiveness of toluene removal was insignificantly comparable to the effectiveness of the control series), it did not affect the effectiveness or limited the development of the biofilter microflora.