Development of Alternative Medium to Sustain Methanotrophs in Methane Biofilters
Abstract
Methane biofiltration is a cost-effective technology that reduces the effect of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through bacterial conversion of methane into carbon dioxide without producing harmful by-products. It is very important that media in which the bacteria live possesses certain characteristics that allows them to grow properly. Compost has been widely used, but it has disadvantages such as instability and compaction issues. The aim of this work was to investigate the performance of flax straw, wood shavings, and lava rock (with and without nutrient addition) used in a mixture along with compost looking to provide better conditions for methanotrophs to thrive and achieve high methane oxidation rates with little degradation from the media. Through laboratory column experiments we found the best material to be the compost:wood shavings mixture in a 30:70 ratio at 70% of FC, with 89% removal efficiency.