Comparison of Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers with Biofilters and Bioscrubbers

In this blog, you’ll learn a little about regenerative thermal oxidizers and how they compare with alternatives like biofilters and bioscrubbers. The main function of an RTO (as they are abbreviated) is to extract heat from exhaust in a plant or industrial assembly line sort of operation, and then to use that heat to preheat incoming streams of gas which will save energy. These systems also reduce pollutants in the air and are thus required in certain countries in order to meet environmental regulations. Bioscrubbers and biofilters are also involved in the removal of air pollutants, but they go about the process differently than the RTOs and are structured a little differently.

                While regenerative thermal oxidizers usually use ceramic material in them to absorb heat and pollutants in that heat, the biofilter systems will use natural, living materials in order to capture and biologically break down pollutants This process is similar to the RTOs, but the renewable and living quality of the material is definitely unique to the biofilters. The air here flows through a bed of the living material that is densely packed. There are microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria that work to break down the pollutant and process it. Then, the biofilm (which is where the microorganisms are located) will be filtered itself by trickle filters and bioscrubbers. Next, we can thus talk about those bioscrubbers!

                Bioscrubbers are very similar to biofilters, but they are more applicable to different types of materials, such as water rather than just air. It’s great for processing waste water and run off chemicals. Things such as slow sand filters are examples of bioscrubbers, because they simply use biological material to filter and clean waste products.