BIONIK - systems for biological, physical and chemical exhaust air and exhaust gas cleaning in municipalities and industry

The main sources of odours in municipal wastewater treatment plants are wastewater pumping stations, intake areas, screen houses, aerated grit chambers as well as sludge stores and sludge treatment facilities.

Industrial wastewater, on the other hand, often has a wide range of pollutants, which can also be highly concentrated. This makes their pollution control systems more difficult, so that the exhaust air treatment must be adapted to the respective conditions. By targeted air extraction at the emission points and treatment in a biological exhaust air purification system odour nuisance for staff and the environment can be largely avoided.

In order to comply with strict limits, exhaust air treatment in sewage sludge drying is therefore usually carried out in several stages. BIONIK uses chemical, biological and physical exhaust air purification processes, which are reliable and user-friendly, while also allowing automation.

This combination of scrubbers, biofilters and activated carbon filters creates safe, cost-effective solutions that have proven themselves in routine operation for many years.

To convert such harmful substances into odourless compounds, BIONIK supplies customised exhaust air solutions. This usually means feeding the preconditioned exhaust air into a BIONIK biofilter.

In addition, BIONIK also implement other solutions, specially adapted to the relevant requirements. For example, BIONIK successfully uses chemical oxidation scrubbers for the desulphurisation of highly concentrated biogas and digester gas.

Thanks to modular designs and a high level of automation, the plants can easily be adjusted to suit specific conditions and needs of the customer.

Using BIONIK scrubber technology, harmful substances are removed from the exhaust air stream which is then ready for odour removal in the biofilter. In this way, odour emissions within the plant and into the environment are avoided.

The main task is to prepare the process gas for further in-process use by means of efficient removal of harmful substances.

If high concentrations of easily and hardly degradable compounds are present at the same time, the easily degradable compounds are preferably metabolised before the microorganisms convert the more complex compounds.

In a combination of biodiesel bed reactor and biofilter, for example, the scrubber unit can take over part of the biological degradation. The degradation of the less water-soluble pollutants then takes place mainly in the downstream biofilter. If a series connection of biofilters is required, this spatial separation can take place in one module or be realised by connecting several modules in series.

A sophisticated exhaust air management system captures all odour emitters and feeds them into a BIONIK air scrubber that humidifies the exhaust air and removes water-soluble pollutants such as ammonia.

In closed BIONIK biofilter modules, microorganisms convert the pollutants remaining in the pre-cleaned exhaust air by enzymatic means into odour-neutral substances such as carbon dioxide, water, oxygen and nitrogen, with minimal consumption of energy and operating materials. Excellent cleaning results are achieved with this process.

The modular design allows the filter performance to be adapted to increasing operating requirements and is the basis for efficient partial load operation.

The raw gas is extracted at the main emission points and fed into a fully automatic air scrubber for humidification and separation of water-soluble pollutants.

In the filter material of the biofilter, micro-organisms then convert the harmful substances into odourless compounds.

To achieve the best separation performance, closed biofilter modules are used and the filter material is specifically selected for the respective application. In this way, odour nuisance for the residents is prevented and the working conditions for the employees are decisively improved.

BIONIK uses them, for example, in the following areas:
• Production of fast food and convenience products
• Production of baking ingredients
• Aroma extraction, production of scents and flavours
• Breweries and production of brewer’s yeast
• Frying and deep-frying plants
• Coffee and cocoa bean roasting plants
• Grain and oil mills
• Chocolate factories
• Gelatine processing plants
• Sausage plants
• Dairies

Biological exhaust air purification generally consumes less energy than other processes, especially compared with the thermal oxidation processes. This translates into significant savings in operating costs and makes a decisive contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The technology is particularly effective for the removal of odours which are so common in the paper and pulp industry.

Biological exhaust air purification can easily be customised to suit different operating conditions and emission sources, allowing optimum performance in eliminating exhaust air problems.

Biological exhaust air and waste gas purification processes offer an environment-friendly and sustainable solution for the reduction of such harmful substances. The technology use micro-organisms and eco-friendly processes to convert harmful airborne compounds into harmless substances or to remove them completely.

The most important exhaust air and waste gas purification processes used by BIONIK in the chemical industry are biofilters, biotrickling filters, wet scrubbers and activated carbon filters. The challenges are highly diverse. Difficult issues often require a combination of several methods.

The biological exhaust air and waste gas purification systems offered by BIONIK help to achieve compliance with environmental regulations and improve the image of the chemical industry in terms of sustainability.

It is a cost-effective and flexible way to reduce harmful emissions and minimise the environmental impact.

In the petrochemical industry, various harmful substances can be released into the air, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and sulphur containing compounds (like H₂S or SO_x). BIONIK exhaust air and waste gas cleaning processes effectively remove such pollutants, thus helping to reduce a company’s environmental impact.

BIONIK biological exhaust air and waste gas purification is based on biological processes that remove pollutants and produce no harmful waste products or emissions. They are therefore more sustainable than other cleaning technologies and can be flexibly adapted to the specific requirements of the petrochemical industry.

Quite often, however, glass manufacturing also involves the use of organic solvents and other chemicals that release volatile compounds into the exhaust air, which can be treated with BIONIK systems.

To resolve such specific issues of the glass industry, BIONIK offers a variety of exhaust air purification methods, such as wet scrubbers, activated carbon filters and biological air cleaning processes. A combination of different processes is often the best solution to effectively reduce emissions while lowering costs to keep the company competitive.

One source of harmful emissions in the electronics industry is, for example, the surface treatment of printed circuit boards and other electronic components, which often involve the use of chemicals such as solvents and acids.

BIONIK offers effective solutions for cleaning solvents, alcohols and other volatile organic compounds. These methods are more cost-effective and environment-friendly than conventional exhaust air purification processes, such as thermal oxidation. They typically require less energy and cause less waste than other processes.