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Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with

Halothiobacillus neapolitanus

Article  in  International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · June 2017

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020

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journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he

Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by

biotrickling filter inoculated with Halothiobacillus
neapolitanus

Nunthaphan Vikromvarasiri a, Veerawat Champreda b,

Siriorn Boonyawanich c,*, Nipon Pisutpaisal a,c,d,**
a
The Joint Graduate School for Energy and Environment (JGSEE), King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi,
Bangkok 10140, Thailand
b
Enzyme Technology Laboratory and Integrative Biorefinery Laboratory, National Center for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology, 113 Thailand Science Park, Paholyothin Road, Khlong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
c
Department of Agro-Industrial, Food and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Applied Science, King Mongkut's
University of Technology North Bangkok, 10800, Thailand
d
The Biosensor and Bioelectronics Technology Centre, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok,
Bangkok 10800, Thailand

article info abstract

Article history: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a highly corrosive gas, is found in biogas due to the biodegradation
Received 17 March 2017 of proteins and other sulfur containing organic compounds present in feed stock during
Received in revised form anaerobic digestion. The presence of H2S is one of the biggest factors limiting the use of
29 April 2017 biogas. It should be removed prior to application of biogas in an electric generator or in-
Accepted 2 May 2017 dustrial boiler. The present research evaluated the performance of biotrickling filter
Available online xxx inoculated with Halothiobacillus neapolitanus NTV01 (HTN) on the H2S removal from syn-
thetic biogas. HTN, isolated and purified from activated sludge, is a sulfur oxidizing bac-
Keywords: teria able to degrade H2S and thiosulfate to elemental sulfur and sulfate, respectively.
Hydrogen sulfide Operational parameters in a short term operation were varied as following; gas flow rate
H2S (0.5e0.75 LPM); EBRT (40e120 s); the inlet H2S concentrations (0e1500 ppmv); liquid recir-
Biotrickling filter culation rate (3.6e4.8 L/h). EBRT showed a greater effect to the removal efficiency than
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus increasing H2S concentration. Longer EBRT resulted higher removal efficiency. The changes
Biogas of liquid recirculation rates did not significantly affect the removal efficiency. In long term
operation, the gas flow rate and liquid recirculation rate were fixed at 0.5 LPM (120 s EBRT)
and 3.6 L/h; and H2S concentrations were varied (0e2040 ppmv). The maximum elimina-
tion capacity was found as 78.57 g H2S/m3 h, which had greater performance than the
previous studies.
© 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author. The Biosensor and Bioelectronics Technology Centre, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok,
Bangkok 10800, Thailand.
E-mail addresses: siriorn2002@yahoo.com (S. Boonyawanich), nipon.p@sci.kmutnb.ac.th (N. Pisutpaisal).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
0360-3199/© 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
2 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 e9
Introduction
Biogas is one of the green alternative renewable energy. Biogas
is commonly used as fuel in electric generation; and house-
hold and industrial heating. The implementation of domestic
biogas technology has widely expanded in Thailand since the
government promoted the local production of renewable en-
ergy in 2005 [1]. The presence of H2S in the biogas results from
the biodegradation of sulfur containing feed stock in the
anaerobic digestion. H2S in biogas needs to be removed to
avoid facility corrosion, unnecessary production of byprod-
ucts, and possible public exposure and complaints [2]. Biogas
can be used in all applications designed for natural gas, which
assume sufficient purification. Boilers and stirling machines
need the least strict gas processing requirements because
their combustion configurations are external. The next most
tolerant to contaminants are the internal combustion engines
and microturbines. The least tolerant to contaminants are fuel
cells because of the potential for catalytic poisoning. Nor-
mally, on-site or stationary biogas applications have fewer gas
processing requirements [3]. H2S can pose harmful effects on
human health, after inhalation exposures, especially respira-
tory, neurological, and ocular systems [4].
Many upgrading techniques have been developed for H2S
removal from the biogas [5,6]. Biotrickling filtration is one of
alternative biological techniques for odor and VOC controls.
Unlike biofilters that are usually packed with organic medium
and operated with a minimum of free water, the biotrickling
filters are almost exclusively packed with inorganic or man-
ufactured media, over which a distinct liquid phase is trickled.
The trickling liquid in biotrickling filters provides a convenient
means to control pH, salt or metabolite concentration, and to
supplement nutrients to the process culture. Biotrickling fil-
ters have several advantages over other biotreatment tech-
nologies for air pollution control [7]. For this system,
chemotrophic bacteria can grow by using inorganic carbon as
a carbon source and obtain chemical energy from the oxida-
tion of reduced inorganic compounds such as H2S. Chemo-
trophic bacteria can degrade H2S in aerobic condition by using
oxygen (O2) as an electron acceptor [8]. Halothiobacillus neapo-
litanus (HTN) is an obligately chemolithoautotrophic bacteria
able to tolerate and metabolize high sulfide concentrations as
a sulfur oxidizing bacteria. Carbon dioxide (normally in air) is
the only carbon source for their growth [9]. The cultural pH
range is 4.5e8.5, while the optimum pH for growth is neutral
pH. The optimum temperature is 28e32
C. This microbe does
Fig. 1 e Random packing media (GEA 2H Water Technologies Ltd.).
Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
not require a strict NaCl. However, it can tolerate high con-
centrations of NaCl more than 860 mM (5% w/v) [10].
The present research focused on the removal of H2S from
synthetic biogas by using the biotrickling filter system inocu-
lated with HTN. HTN was isolated and evaluated regarding the
optimal medium for growth and sulfur oxidizing activities in
previous study [11]. The optimal condition for H2S removal
from biogas in the biotrickling filter was evaluated under both
short- and long-term operation.
Materials and methods
H. neapolitanus
H. neapolitanus NTV01 (HTN) (KJ027464) was isolated and pu-
rified from activated sludge system (Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok,
Thailand). This pure culture stain was stored in 15% glycerol
at 20
C. Prior to use, HTN was activated by culturing in the
thiosulfate mineral medium (TMM) at 30
C, 180 rpm and
transferred 10% v/v to fresh medium every 5e7 d.
Culture medium
Thiosulfate mineral medium (TMM) contained the following
(g/L): 4.0 KH2PO4, 4.0 K2HPO4, 0.4 NH4Cl, 0.2 MgCl2$6H2O, 0.01
FeSO4$7H2O and 10.0 Na2S2O3$5H2O [11]. This medium was
used for maintaining microorganisms and applied as the me-
dium for the immobilization process and recirculated liquid in
the biotrickling filter. The final pH of this medium was adjusted
to 7 by 1 N NaOH and 1 N HCl. The medium was autoclaved at
15 psi and 121
C for 15 min before use. The medium agar was
prepared by adding bacto agar (16 g/L) to TMM.
Immobilization of H. neapolitanus on packing media
The biotrickling filter column was made from glass with a
0.475 m inner diameter and a height of 0.72 m. The random
packing media was packed inside the column for microbial
attachment with its working height of 0.564 m (1 L working
volume) (Fig. 1). The technical parameters of random packing
medium are sizes 12 mm, surface 859 m2/m3, and weight
150 kg/m3, and it made from high-density polyethylene
(HDPE). The empty packing media were weighed and sterilized
at 15 psi and 121
C for 15 min and dried before use.
In the immobilization process, TMM containing HTN grown
at logarithmic phase (1.02  1010 CFU/mL) was transferred into
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 e9
the packing media on which TMM was continuously spayed on
the packing media. Air flow rate and liquid recirculation rate
were fixed at 0.5 LPM and 3.6 L/h. Fresh TMM as recirculating
liquid was changed every 48 h, and pH was daily adjusted to 7
[11]. The packing media were dried and weighed at the end of
each experiment. The growth of HTN and elemental sulfur
production were determined by calculation of the weight dif-
ference between the beginning and the end processes. Recir-
culating liquid was periodically collected to measure pH, cell
number, temperature, and sulfate concentration.
H2S removal under short-term operation
The synthetic biogas (60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide
were mixed with 5000 ppmv H2S) was used as an inlet gas to the
biotrickling filter. All gas tanks have valves, pressure gauges,
and flow meters to control the gas flow rates. This synthetic
biogas was mixed with air (>3% v/v), pumped through a 0.2 mm
syringe filter and controlled by flow meter. The mixed gas was
introduced upward into a packed bed. The gas flow rate was
varied from 0.5 to 0.75 LPM. EBRT and H2S concentrations were
varied in the range of 40e120 s, and 0e1500 ppmv.
This study preferred to use energy sources derived from
only oxidation for microorganism growth, so Na2S2O3$5H2O in
the liquid medium in the recirculation tank was removed after
immobilization process. TMM was pumped to the upper
packaging media, and then it was recirculated during the
experiment. The liquid recirculation rate was varied from 3.6
to 4.8 L/h. The experiments were operated at room tempera-
ture 32e36 h. Samples were collected and analyzed as previ-
ously mentioned.
In abiotic experiment, synthetic biogas with inlet gas H2S
concentration of 100 ppmv was used. Air flow rate and liquid
recirculation rate were 0.5 LPM and 3.6 L/h, respectively.
H2S removal under long-term operation
The synthetic biogas flow rate was 0.5 LPM with EBRT of 120 s,
and H2S concentrations were varied 0e2040 ppmv. The liquid
recirculation rate was 3.6 L/h. The experiments were operated
at room temperature for 126 h.
Fig. 2 e pH, suspended cells and sulfate concentration during the immobilization process.
Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
3
Analytical techniques
Growth of HTN was observed with colony forming unit
(CFU/ml) by drop plate technique [12]. pH was monitored by
pH meter (Mettler Toledo FE20, Germany). Sulfate concentra-
tion was determined by turbidimetric method according to
standard method [13]. Gas composition were measured both
inlet and outlet gas concentrations by the GFM416 biogas an-
alytic handheld instrument (Gas Data, England).
Results and discussions
Immobilization process
HTN was successfully immobilised on the packing media.
TMM, recirculating liquid, was changed every 48 h, and pH
was adjusted to 7 every 24 h (Fig. 2). The experiments were
conducted at room temperature (31.5 ± 1.5
C). pH was
controlled in the range of 6.12e7.00. The results showed that
the number of HTN in liquid phase did not change even when
the medium was replaced as in the immobilization experi-
ment. The average of suspended cells in the recirculating
medium was 8.59  107 CFU/mL. The average of sulfate pro-
duction rates was 112 ± 11 mg/L h. The results of pH changes
apparently corresponded with sulfate production. The sulfate
concentration after 48 h of operation of each medium was
similar with an average of 5390 ± 570 mg/L. The results of the
immobilization experiments were not significantly different
in each experiment.
Elemental sulfur was vividly accumulated on the media
(Figs. 3 and 4). This result is different from the previous report.
Wood et al. (2005) reported that HTN produces sulfur when pH
is lower than 5 [9]. However, the present research found that
HTN can produce elemental sulfur even at pH 6 or higher.
Effect of H2S loading rate on H2S removal
The increase of the H2S loading rate can be increased by
increasing inlet H2S concentrations. Fig. 5 showed the rela-
tionship between H2S loading rate and the elimination
4 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 e9

Fig. 3 e HTN and elemental sulfur accumulation on packing media in biotrickling filter during the immobilization process.

Fig. 4 e Elemental sulfur crystals under microscopic observation (£400).

Fig. 5 e Relationship between H2S loading rate and elimination capacity (EC) at varying empty bed resident time.

Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 e9 5

Fig. 6 e Removal efficiency at varying H2S inlet concentration and empty bed resident time.

capacity by varying EBRT. The elimination capacity is equal to
the loading rate, which results in the complete H2S removal
(slope ¼ 1) [14]. The results showed that the highest slope
occurred at 120 s EBRT (slope ¼ 0.915), whereas the lower EBRT
(40, 60 and 80 s) had lower slope (0.793, 0.718 and 0.490,
respectively). There are two steps in the H2S removal in bio-
trickling filter. The first step, H2S in gas phase is removed by
diffusion into the liquid phase (Eq. (1)), and is metabolized by
the microorganisms in the subsequent step (Eqs. (2)e(4)) [15].
H2 S4HS þHþ ðnon  biologicalÞ
HS þ 0:5O2 /S0 þOH ðbiologicalÞ
HS þ 2O2 /SO2
4 þH
þ
ðbiologicalÞ
þ
2H2 S þ 3=2O2 /SO2
4 þH ðbiologicalÞ
The lower retention time reduced the removal efficiency,
which probably occurs from slow H2S diffusion from gas
phase into the liquid phase [16].
Both the increase of the synthetic biogas flow rate (EBRT
reduction) and H2S concentration lead to the decreasing of the
removal efficiency. However, the EBRT reduction caused a
greater effect to the removal efficiency than the increase of
H2S concentration (Fig. 6). Even the inlet concentration in
EBRT 120 s reached 1060 ppmv, the removal efficiency (92.92%)
was higher than the removal efficiency at inlet concentration
65 ppmv in all of lower EBRT (40, 60 and 80 s), which were
92.31, 77.27 and 61.54%. The results found that at fixed H2S
concentration, higher EBRT will have higher removal effi-
ciency. At inlet concentration about 1500 ppmv, the remove
efficiency at 120 s EBRT was 87.46%, whereas the removal ef-
(1)
ficiency of lower EBRT were 67.21, 60.45 and 40.33%, respec-
tively. Therefore, the suitable EBRT for long term experiment
(2)
is 120 s (The gas flow rate is 0.5 LPM).
In addition, the oxygen consumption is this process was
(3)
0.1% v/v with the inlet concentration of 1.1e1.3% v/v. There-
fore, the oxygen was not limited in this process. The inlet
(4)
gases concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide were in
the range of 54.6e39.9% v/v and 44.3e29.8% v/v. Both gases
were negligibly affect by the biotrickling filter process,
methane concentration was increased 0.1e0.3% v/v, and car-
bon dioxide concentration was reduced 0.1e0.4% v/v. How-
ever, two probable reasons for the carbon dioxide reduction

Fig. 7 e Relationship between the elimination capacity (EC) and H2S loading rate (LR) at varying the liquid recirculation rates.

Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
6 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 e9

Fig. 8 e Relationship between inlet H2S concentration, removal efficiency and sulfate production in long term experiment.

were the consumption of microorganism (HTN) and the car-
bon dioxide dissolution into liquid medium. Carbon dioxide is
slightly soluble in water (0.038 mol/L at pH 7 and 20
C), and
the solubility will decrease with temperature. Moreover, only
a small fraction of about 1% of the dissolved carbon dioxide
will be converted to H2CO3, which can be converted to car-
bonic acid (pK ¼ 6.35) [17].
Effect of liquid recirculation rate on H2S removal
The liquid recirculation medium was used to control physio-
logical conditions in the liquid phase of the biotrickling filter
system such as pH, nutrient supply, contamination absorption,
removal of metabolites, and biofilm moistening. Moreover, it
helped to remove the sulfuric acid from the filter bed. Besides,
the flow of liquid recirculation affected the performance sys-
tem of the formation and the thickness of the biofilm in the
biotrickling filter. Therefore, it can affect the maximum elim-
ination capacity.
In this research, the liquid recirculation rate varied from
3.6 to 4.8 L/h. The EBRT in this experiment was 120 s. The
results showed that the removal efficiency of liquid recircu-
lation rates (3.6e4.8 L/h) were not significantly different by the
gradients of the relationship between H2S loading rate and
elimination capacity, which were 0.915 (3.6 L/h) and 0.907
(4.8 L/h) (Fig. 7). At the inlet H2S concentration about

Fig. 9 e HTN and elemental sulfur accumulation on packing media in biotrickling filter.

Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 e9 7

1500 ppmv, the removal efficiency of liquid recirculation rates

Potivichayanon et al., 2006 [19]

was 87.46% (3.6 L/h) and 87.30% (4.8 L/h). Therefore, the suit-
able liquid recirculation rate for the long term operation was

Soreanu et al., 2008 [20]

Naegele et al., 2013 [21]

Namini et al., 2008 [14]
3.6 L/h because it used lower power, but provided the same

References
removal efficiency. The liquid recirculation rate at 4.8 L/h

Jin et al., 2005 [16]

Allegue, 2005 [18]

caused a pressure drop after 36 h of operation. The pressure
drop can be observed from the instability of the scale bar in

This study
the gas flow meter before being introduced to the biotrickling
filter. Moreover, Jin et al. (2005) reported that the higher liquid
flow rate caused the lower gradient. The degradation of
pollutant will be lower when decreasing the liquid residence

capacity (g H2S/m3 h)
time (increasing its flow rate) at the constant EBRT because

H2S elimination
the increase of the thickness of the liquid phase at a higher
liquid flow rate caused the limitation of mass transfer [16].

19.24

14.58

32.33
78.57
In addition, the average of suspended cells in liquid recir-

32.5

23.7
24
culation and sulfate production rate in gas running phase
(4.94  107 CFU/mL and 11 ± 0.4 mg/L h.) were lower than in
the immobilization process (8.59  107 CFU/mL and
112 ± 11 mg/L h). These results indicated that thiosulfate in
the medium was replaced by H2S in the gas running phase,

Halothiobacillus neapolitanus
Desulfurization bacteria
which affected the number of suspended cells and sulfate

Microorganism

Anoxic mixed culture

production rate. That might occur from slow H2S diffusion

Thiobacillus thioparus

Acinetobacter sp. and

Alcaligenes faecalis
from the gas phase into the liquid phase (Eq. (1)), whereas

Activated sludge

Activated sludge
thiosulfate can completely dissolve into medium.

(Indigenous)
Abiotic process test

Synthetic biogas was used as the inlet gas with H2S concen-
Table 1 e Comparison of the H2S elimination capacity of this study with previous reports.

tration of 100 ± 5 ppmv. Eqs. (5)e(7) showed that the oxidation

Commercial polyester fibers

of H2S to elemental sulfur and sulfate can occur in abiotic
Packing materials

Polypropylene pall ring

Polypropylene pall ring
condition.

þ
H2 S þ 2O2 /SO2
4 þ 2H DG0 ¼ 798:2 kJ=reaction (5)

BioSulfidEx
Glass ring
Lava rock

HS þ ½O2 þ Hþ /S0 þ H2 O DG0 ¼ 209:4 kJ=reaction (6)

HDPE
þ
S0 þ H2 O þ 1½O2 /SO2
4 þ 2H DG0 ¼ 587:1 kJ=reaction (7)
10.29e72 min
12.71e31.77 s

The results showed that the H2S removal efficiency was in

EBRT

the range of 0e9.5%; the average removal efficiency was 5%.

14e84 s
9e60 s

pH gradually decreased from 7.00 to 6.39 after 48 h operation.

120 s
69 s
84 s

The decrease of pH did not occur from sulfate production (no

sulfate production was observed during this experiment).
Flow rate (LPM)

Therefore, the possibility of pH reduction occurred from

hydrogen ion (Hþ) from Eq. (1). However, there is no sulfate
10.0e66.7

0.17e1.17

0.5e0.75
0.2e0.5

production, but elemental sulfur production was observed

1600
0.33
5e7

(0.8423 g/L).
In addition, the inlet gases concentrations of methane,
carbon dioxide and oxygen were about 53.8 ± 0.1, 44.8 ± 0.1
and 1.2 ± 0.1% v/v in the abiotic experiment. The results found
H2S (ppmv)

1000e4000

100e2000

that no change of oxygen concentration in this process could

500e600
10e100

0e2040
10e90
0e190

have occurred from the oxygen consumption being lower than

the limit detection of the measurement instrument. However,
both methane and carbon dioxide concentrations changed
negligibly after passing the biotrickling filter in the abiotic
Synthetic Biogas

process. Methane concentration increased by about 0.2% v/v,

and carbon dioxide concentration reduced by about 0.2% v/v.
H2S þ Air
H2S þ Air
H 2S þ N 2

H 2S þ N 2

These results showed that the main change of methane and

Biogas

Biogas
Gas

carbon dioxide in the biotrickling filter system did not occur

from biotic process.

Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
8 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 e9
H2S removal under long term operation
The result showed that HTN can completely remove 260 ppmv
H2S after 12 h operation (Fig. 8). At 1415 ppmv inlet H2S con-
centration, the removal efficiency was 93.64%, while at the
removal efficiency was 92.16% at 2000 ppmv H2S. H2S removal
efficiency tended to increase with increased operation times.
The amount of H2S in biogas limits the biogas utilization.
Heating (boilers) can resist 1000 pmmv H2S, whereas the in-
ternal combustion engines required lower than 100 ppmv H2S
[3]. However, it can reach 500 ppmv depending on the types of
engines [18]. Therefore, the possibility of biotrickling filter
inoculated with HTN in this study can be applied for H2S
removal with H2S concentrations of 1400e2000 ppmv (H2S
concentrations lower than 100e200 ppmv requirement).
For sulfate production, the results showed that the sulfate
production rate was 10.46 mg/L h, when H2S concentrations
were varied in 0e570 ppmv, while at H2S concentration of
1010e2040 ppmv, the sulfate production rate increased to
17.04 mg/L h. Therefore, the increase of H2S concentration
affects the sulfate production.
Continuous increase of microbial cells and elemental sul-
fur accumulation after the immobilization process was
observed (Fig. 9). However, no pressure drop occurred during
the experiment, which means the increase of elemental sulfur
accumulation did not contribute to the clogging in the system.
The relationship between the loading rate and elimination
capacity was shown that the gradient in the long term
experiment (0.931) was higher than short term experiment
(0.915) because the H2S removal efficiency trended to increase,
when the operation time was increased. The maximum
elimination capacity was determined as 78.57 g H2S/m3 h at
the loading rate 85.25 g H2S/m3 h. In addition, the elimination
capacity of this study performance well when compared to the
previous studies (Table 1).
Conclusion
HTN, previously isolated and purified from activated sludge,
could remove H2S from the biogas in biotrickling filter system.
The results showed that the EBRT reduction caused a greater
effect to the removal efficiency than increasing H2S concentra-
tion. The removal efficiencies at change of liquid recirculation
rates posed no significant impact on H2S removal efficiency. In
long term operation, the H2S removal efficiency tended to in-
crease with increased operation times. The maximum elimi-
nation capacity was determined as 78.57 g H2S/m3 h, which was
higher performance compared to the previous studies.
Acknowledgements
The authors gracefully acknowledged the financial support
from the Royal Golden Jubilee (RGJ) Scholarship of Thailand
Research Fund (TRF, Grant no. PHD/0139/2553), the Joint
Graduate School of Energy and Environment (grant no. JGSEE
522), King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, and
King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok
(contract no. KMUTNB-GOV-60-49).
Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
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Please cite this article in press as: Vikromvarasiri N, et al., Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas by biotrickling filter inoculated with
Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.05.020
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