Biofiltration-Based Methods for the Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds and Heavy Metals in Industrial Effluent Treatment Plants

Biofiltration is a useful technique for removal of both organic and dissolved inorganic pollutants in industrial effluent, using microbial communities attached to the surface of bioreactors packed with an appropriate material. The biofiltration is favoured because, it is cheap, reliable, and that biodegradable organic pollutants can be degraded to non-hazardous products without the generation of secondary toxic wastes. The classification of biofiltration processes is based on the design of the bioreactor as either biofilter, biotrickling filter, or bioscrubber. These bioreactors only differ in terms of microorganism structure, packing media type, and inlet pollutant concentration. The widely reported microorganisms include bacteria, fungi, and algal species. Recently, other researchers have reported genetic modification of these microorganisms to enhance biofiltration of wastewater. Therefore, this chapter describes the fundamentals of biofiltration, its application in removal of organic compounds and heavy metals from industrial effluents, effects of operational parameters, challenges, recent developments, and its prospects.