2026-04-27T07:52:55Zhttps://uvadoc.uva.es/oai/request

oai:uvadoc.uva.es:10324/769602025-12-03T08:00:34Zcom_10324_35294com_10324_952com_10324_894col_10324_35295

Optimizing the composition of bioactive coatings to support toluene removal González Martín, Javier Campo, Aránzazu del Muñoz Torre, Raúl Lebrero Fernández, Raquel Producción Científica The potential of bioactive coatings as an innovative biotechnology to overcome the mass-transfer limitations of conventional technologies when treating air pollutants, especially hydrophobic volatile organic compounds, was herein assessed. Bioactive coatings consist of active microorganisms entrapped in a polymer matrix, which needs to be porous to facilitate an effective gas pollutant exchange. To increase porosity, two additives, sucrose and glycerol mixtures (Suc/Gly) and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), were included in the bioactive coatings at two concentration levels. The toluene removals of the different bioactive coatings were studied in batch mode at low (∼300 mg m−3) and high (∼3000 mg m−3) toluene concentrations. Overall, low HNTs concentration coatings supported optimum toluene removals (>95 %), comparable to biofilm controls at both toluene concentrations. High HNTs concentration coatings and low Suc/Gly concentration coatings achieved toluene removals over 95 % after 7 toluene injections at low toluene concentration. At high toluene concentrations, these coatings eventually outperformed the biofilm controls. High Suc/Gly concentration coatings supported a limited toluene removal (4 and 1 injection at low and high toluene concentrations, respectively), attributed to a preferential consumption of sucrose over toluene. These findings were corroborated by ESEM/conventional SEM imaging, revealing porosity in the HNTs bioactive coatings, visible at both the surface and internal levels. On the contrary, more homogeneous surfaces were observed in the Suc/Gly bioactive coatings, where total polymer coalescence was partially hindered by the addition of Suc/Gly. These results paved the way towards the implementation of bioactive coating in larger bioreactors for real-life air purification. 2025-07-29T11:23:37Z 2025-07-29T11:23:37Z 2025 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2025, vol. 13, n. 4, p. 117324 2213-3437 https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/76960 10.1016/j.jece.2025.117324 117324 4 Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 13 eng https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213343725020202 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ © 2025 The Author(s) Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Elsevier SI