Abstract
The effect of temperature and moisture on the elimination capacity (EC), CO2 production and spore emission by Fusarium solani was studied in biofilters packed with vermiculite and fed with n- pentane. Three temperatures (15, 25 and 35°C) were tested and the highest average EC (64 g m−3 h−1) and lower emission of spores (2.0 × 103 CFU m−3 air) were obtained at 25°C. The effect of moisture content of the packing material indicates that the highest EC (65 g m−3 h−1) was obtained at 50 % moisture. However, lowest emission (1.3 × 103 CFU m−3 air) was obtained at 80 % moisture. Furthermore, the results show that a slight decrease in spore emission was found with increasing moisture content. In all cases, the depletion of the nitrogen source in the biofilter induced the sporulation, a decay of the EC and increased spore emission.
Acknowledgments
The present research has been sponsored by the CONICYT-Chile (National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research) (FONDECYT Project Number 11080036).