Development of an innovative bioelectrochemical process for the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils/water : b) Enzymatic mode

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This research project is based on a college-university-industry collaboration. It aims to meet the needs of TechnoRem Inc., a company specializing in the treatment of groundwater and soils. Nowadays, soil and groundwater contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons is a major challenge facing scientists. The objective of this R & D project is to leverage the expertise of researchers from CTE (Gherrou, Daghrir & Huot) and the expertise of Professor SK. Brar from INRS-ETE to develop an innovative method using bioelectrochemical process involving synergy of enzymatic reactions and electrochemical oxidation techniques for the degradation of complex hydrocarbon chains (PAHs, C10-C50, etc) that contaminate soil and groundwater. R & D activities offered by our inter-institutional team (INRS-CTE) can be divided into three main activities. The first part comprises identification of the anode and cathode that is appropriate and hence optimize their oxidation capacity of hydrocarbons. An optimization of electrochemical oxidation capacity of hydrocarbons will be performed at laboratory scale at CTE. The second task will be to identify and develop nano-formulations of efficient enzymes and having a capacity for oxidative degradation of hydrocarbon chains at INRS. The efficiency of the enzymatic process will be studied under different experimental conditions (pH, temperature, etc.). The third part of this work will be focused on the development and application of a hybrid bioelectrochemical process for the degradation of hydrocarbons that contaminate soil and groundwater (CTE-INRS). The optimum processing conditions determined during the application of each process (enzymatic and electrochemical) will be applied a priori. This project will benefit from a unique expertise combining electrochemical oxidation techniques and enzymatic processes, and an R & D operational infrastructure at the forefront; two parameters essential for the achievement of the project objectives in time.