Predicting Dispersion and Pollutant Concentration of Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) from a Biofilter Under Various Atmospheric Conditions

Meat rendering plants convert waste animal materials into value added products. During the conversion process, several highly odorous compounds such as ammonia, ethylamines, hydrogen sulfide, dimethyl sulfide, and methyl mercaptan are released into the atmosphere. Due to odorous nature, these compounds cause nuisance to the community who live in the neighborhood of the meat rendering plant; thus, plant received regular odor complaints. Although installation of gas-phase biofilters alleviates the problem of odor complaints, the successful operation of a biofilter depends on many parameters such as maintaining optimum moisture content of the biofilter media, sufficient empty bed residence time (EBRT), high surface area for mass transfer, acceptable mechanical resistance to avoid bed compaction, and good environment for bacterial growth. Deficiencies in the operational parameters of a biofilter can lead to high level of pollutant release into the environment. In this work, dispersion of pollutants that are released from an industrial biofilter, installed in Ontario, Canada, is investigated. Dispersion model CALPUFF was used to predict pollutant concentrations and dispersion under various atmospheric conditions. Influence of wind directions, plume paths, atmospheric conditions, and removal efficiency of the biofilter are investigated.