Pulsed reactor modelling for catalytic micropollutant treatment in wastewater

Abstract

This study stems from the problem of the presence of micropollutants (including phenolic compounds such as Bisphenol A, Nonylphenol and Triclosan) in urban and industrial wastewaters. Systems used in the wastewater treatment plants are inefficient in removing these micropollutants that are harmful for the environment. In an ongoing project, laccases, a group of enzymes, are used to efficiently catalyse the degradation of phenolic micropollutants. In this master thesis, it is proposed to model, using the computational fluid dynamics software package ANSYS FLUENT, an oscillating continuous reactor in order to optimize its design for micropollutant treatment using laccases. Keywords: micropollutants, endocrine disrupting compounds, laccases, oscillating continuous reactor, CFD.