Abstract: In the industrial operation of biotrickling filters for hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) removal, shock loads or starvation was common due to process variations or equipment malfunctions. In this study, effects of starvation and shock loads on the performance of biotrickling filters for H₂S removal were investigated. Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the changes of biomass and viable bacteria numbers in the biotrickling filters during a 24-d starvation. Compared to biomass, viable bacteria numbers decreased significantly during the starvation, especially when airflow was maintained in the absence of spray liquid. During the subsequent re-acclimation, all the bioreactors could resume high removal efficiencies within 4 d regardless of the previous starvation conditions. The results show that the re-acclimation time, in the case of biotrickling filters for H₂S removal, is mainly controlled by viable H₂S oxidizing bacteria numbers. On the other hand, the biotrickling filters can protect against shock loads in inlet fluctuating H₂S concentration after resuming normal operation. When the biotrickling filters were supplied with H₂S at an input of lower than 1700 mg/m³, their removal efficiencies were nearly 98% regardless of previous H₂S input.

Key words: Biotrickling filter, Starvation, Shock loads, Odor, Hydrogen sulfide

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