There are many categories of air contaminants that may be encountered in industry, from volatile organic compounds to aerosols to viruses, as well as a range of particulate matter and ultra-fine particles, which also vary greatly in size and properties. This makes it difficult for a single air-cleaning technology to comprehensively handle such contaminant mixtures. The air-cleaning technology developed by BioOx (East Hanover, N.J.; www.bioox.us) claims to capture and destroy a wide array of airborne contaminants using a novel bioreactor system.
“Usually, competing systems absorb, but do not destroy, the contaminant. For example, activated carbon will adsorb hydrocarbons, but then you still must regenerate and recover the hydrocarbons for destruction before re-using the carbon. BioOx can oxidize hydrocarbons to CO2 and H2O biologically. This means no regeneration is required,” says Sam Sofer, president and founder of BioOx. Within the BioOx reactor, enzymatic media are immobilized on a specialized spiral-biosupport membrane (see diagram). Water is pumped up from the bottom of the reactor, where it flows down the membrane, keeping the media moist. Water is distributed evenly from above the biosupport, exposing contaminants to the enzymes, which are activated to begin bio-oxidation upon water contact. “A fan at the top of the reactor promotes convection, creating a clean air dome. As water flows into the tank, it captures contaminants via Bernoulli’s Principle in tiny bubbles. Once the air pollutants are captured, brought into the unit and digested by the media, the clean air dome expands to cover a larger and larger area,” says Sofer. The special spiral design of the bio-support membrane supports contaminant contact with the enzymes due to the turbulence created by cyclone action.
Sofer says that the BioOx system is especially well-suited for manufacturing areas where quality control is key as product batches change and invisible air contaminants may remain, such as in the production of paint or flavor ingredients. “For example, if you’re making red paint, and now you want to make white paint, and there are invisible red paint particles in the air, the quality control will suffer.” The BioOx reactor has been demonstrated in a variety of facilities with up to 200 lb/d contaminant destruction.