Composition of air emissions from tobacco factories and development of the biocatalyst for odor control n.a. zagustina, a.k. kulikova, m.e. romanov, a.o. ruzhitsky, v.g. zhukov, v.o. popov, n.i. krikunova, t.a. misharina, m.b. terenina & a.a. veprizky

Methane is an important greenhouse gas and its biological oxidation constitutes a cost-effective alternative for the treatment of low concentration emissions. Nevertheless, due to its low aqueous solubility (similar to oxygen), the limiting step during the biological degradation of methane is often the mass transfer from the gas phase. Two-phase partition bioreactors are especially devoted to increase the biodegradation of poorly soluble compounds. In this work, the effect of the stirring rate (200, 500 and 800 rpm) and the silicone oil fraction (0, 5 and 10% v/v) on the abiotic volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient and the methane elimination capacity by a methanotrophic consortium in a stirred tank was evaluated. The results showed that, under abiotic conditions, the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa) increased when increasing both factors considered, which resulted in an enhanced EC of the system during the degradation experiments.