Waste treatment industries generate gaseous emissions that may induce odor annoyance to the surrounding populations. These gaseous effluents contain a large variety of volatile compounds such as oxygenated (volatile fatty acids, ketones, aldehydes and alcohols), nitrogen and sulphur compounds (hydrogen sulphide (H2S), dimethylsulphide (DMS), dimethyldisulfide (DMDS) and methanethiol (MT). These gaseous emissions are controlled by using an adequate system such as biotechniques. Nevertheless, because of their very low odor thresholds, complete elimination of sulphur compounds has to be assessed, as the residual concentration can induce an odorous impact on neighbourhood populations. The aim of this study is to improve these bioprocesses performances by carrying out an adequate system strategy. The originality of this work is to evaluate the removal efficiency of a mixture of sulphur compounds by implementing a combination of two bioprocesses and more precisely a biotrickling filter and biofilter.The first step of this PhD. work consisted of evaluating the pH impact on the biodegradation activity of a mixture of sulphur compounds (H2S, DMS and DMDS) by using microcosms. The pH has an impact on the removal efficiency of DMS and DMDS. The total removal of these compounds is observed for a pH range between 5 and 7. The performances of the coupling have been compared with those reached by implementing control biofilters (duplicated). After an acclimatization period, stable performances are maintained under constant operating conditions. The efficiency of the coupling have been highlighted, the DMS and DMDS abatement levels are superior (around 20%) for the bioprocesses combination.The microbiological component has been investigated within all biofilters by estimating the densities of two populations involved in the biodegradation of sulphur compounds (Hyphomicrobium and Thiobacillus thioparus), by using qPCR. The obtained results highlighted the presence of both populations at high level (104 copies of DNAr-16S gene/ng extracted DNA for Thiobacillus thioparus and 104-106 copies of DNAr-16S gene/ng extracted DNA for Hyphomicrobium). The repartition of these two bacterial populations is similar in both cases (coupling system and reference biofilters). Under transient shock load conditions, the robustness of the coupling has been revealed. The efficiency levels before the shock load are recovered 48 hours after the perturbation off. Finally, the monitoring of an on- site pilot (rendering facility) has been carried out during three months. The laboratory results have been confirmed and the suitability of such a system has been showed under industrial gas variability.
