Driving Odors Away
Not unlike a college house party, one of the keys to success for a wastewater treatment plant is keeping the neighbors happy.
Instead of raucous merriment, late night decibel-topping, or unruly lawn violations, the plant operator must rein in odor violations to keep the Joneses from complaining. It might seem easier to temper smells than to keep a homecoming kegger from going overboard, but it’s no simple task to control odors that can differ based on changing environmental factors, evolving treatment technologies, and fluctuating flows.
With so many variables at play, some plants need odor fixes that are tailored to them. Seeing an opportunity, odor and air emission control company BioAir Solutions developed its Mobile Research Center (MRC).
The MRC is a 50-foot semi-trailer on the outside and a fully-equipped laboratory on the inside. It utilizes eight reactor vessels that can be operated independently, allowing researchers to play with different biological media and operating parameters on a single air stream right outside the plant they are studying. By regulating temperature, air flow, type and amount of nutrients, mass transfer, and other criteria, BioAir narrows down the best combination for each plant and arrives at a customized method for odor control.
“The MRC enables us to find a specific biotechnology solution for a specific industrial or municipal application that is customized for its unique emission characteristics,” said BioAir’s president Louis le Roux. “With the MRC we can learn how the microorganisms can be adapted to solve odor or air emission problems by measuring and adjusting the various process control parameters to optimize the solution for that facility.”
While it might seem like the MRC is, at best, a lab on wheels, BioAir sees its onsite dedication as an advantage over traditional testing centers.
“By taking our research capability directly to the customer, we are able to develop real world, production-scale data and solutions that are much more relevant and effective than testing that is done in a lab setting under controlled environments,” le Roux said. “Through these efforts we are able to develop much more robust solutions to real world air pollution challenges.”
The rolling workshop is the result of an early breakthrough that has informed BioAir’s identity as a company. The research and development efforts in its first pilot facility, a 2008 project in Jacksonville, FL, yielded a plastic that the company calls EcoBase. It is capable of removing odors without the use of chemicals and can accommodate biotrickling filters that are one third of the standard size.
The MRC was designed with these filters for plant staffs that are struggling to identify the cause of their odor emissions and are looking for a biotechnology fix. By le Roux’s account, the fleet of mobile labs fills an ecological need that is otherwise unfulfilled in the industry.
“The MRC has been warmly welcomed in the municipal and industrial odor control markets and we believe this is the result of a serious need for further scientific research on how biological solutions can help control odors or eliminate volatile organic compounds found in both industrial and municipal treatment plant airstreams,” he said. “We believe that the wastewater treatment industry in the municipal and industrial markets are seeking sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions to odor control instead of technologies that utilize hazardous chemicals or adsorption. We anticipate continued market growth as we are able to develop biological treatment solutions for specific air pollutants found in specific market segments. The MRC will be the key to providing a customized, cost-effective, sustainable green solution to odor control.”
Sounds like the party will go on.