AbstractBiofiltration has been validated as a promising alternative to other conventional air pollution control technologies [1–3]. The objective of this research was to investigate the kinetic behavior of the biofiltration process for the removal of acetone, which was used as a model compound for highly water‐soluble gas pollutants. Experiments were conducted in a laboratory‐scale biofilter with a mixture of sieved compost and inert porous particles as the filter material. It was found that the elimination capacity of this biofilter could reach up to a high value of 80 g/(m3hr).A mathematical model was developed by taking into account diffusion and biodegradation of acetone and diffusion of oxygen in the biofilm, mass transfer resistance in the gas film, and flow pattern of the bulk gas phase. The simulated results obtained from the proposed model indicated that mass transfer resistance in the gas phase was negligible for this biofiltration process. Analysis of the relative importance of individual rate steps indicated that the overall acetone removal process was primarily limited by the oxygen diffusion rate. Moreover, the gas phase acetone concentration profile along the biofilter and the elimination capacity predicted by the proposed model agreed well with the experimental re
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