By Various (see paper) - Biofiltration is an air pollution control technology adapted from naturally occurring processes, which use microorganisms to oxidize volatile organic compounds.

A barn biofilter consists of a bed of material with a large surfacearea, for example a mixture of coarse wood chips and fine materials, such ascompost. As the barn air moves through the biofilter, and thus, the livingecosystem of bacteria and fungi that live on the biofilter's media surface, thelow concentrations of organic compounds that create the odours are removed.

Up to 90% of barn odour can be removed from the exhaust air by biofiltration.

Three biofilter projects, designed and constructed by Alberta Agriculture, areunderway in Alberta:

A biofilter on an 1800 pig grower finisher barn near Bentley.A biofilter on the new composting facility at the University of AlbertaA biofilter construction plan has been finished for a barn east of Edmonton, construction of several biofilter modules is planned for early this winter.

At each of these projects, odour concentration before and after filtration is beingmonitored. The data are being analyzed by the University of Albertaolfactometry lab.

The expectation is that the results will lead to a betterunderstanding of biofilter characteristics under Alberta conditions, designguideline development and a database of performance criteria that can be usedto assess biofilter technology as applied to the minimum separation.

Implications