PhD at ENSCR (Rennes National School of Chemistry)

Research team CIP (Processes Chemistry and Engineering)

of ISCR (Rennes Institute of Chemical Sciences)

Candidate required skills: Chemical engineering, Chemistry,

Autonomy, Appetite for exploring new research paths,
good ability for writing

Contact: annabelle.couvert@ensc-rennes.fr

Removal of hydrophobic toluene by a new generation of

enzyme membrane contactor
Key-words

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs); Absorption; Organic phase; Enzymatic catalysis;

Membrane process

Abstract

The « Chimie et Ingénierie des Procédés » team from the UMR 6226 has developed an
innovative absorption capture process towards toxic volatile organic compounds exhibiting
low solubilities into organic solvents. The process allows for the bio-degradation of these
compounds by means of cross-linked enzyme aggregates. Nevertheless, this technology is
facing challenges related to the control of the suspension of these enzymes within the organic
phase (PDMS), leading to clustering and thus sharply reducing their specific reactivity.
This project aims at developing novel liquid-liquid enzymatic membrane contactors, whereby
the immobilized enzymes (peroxydase), onto the entrance of the pores of a material, at the
interface of both organic and aqueous phases, for the degradation of trace toluene. Several
contactor configurations will be investigated to increase the yield of the reactions and stabilize
the enzymes, thus reducing their loss of performance over time and cyclic testing.

Objectives and innovative aspects of the project

The initial objective of the project is to remove toluene by coupling absorption in silicone oil
(PDMS, PolyDiMethylSiloxane) and enzymatic biodegradation (peroxidase). The experiments
carried out on the system implemented to date have revealed a limitation in efficiency due to
the poor solubilization of the co-substrate necessary for the activity of the enzyme in the
organic phase. Thus, in order to overcome this challenge, another system has been devised,
which involves synthesizing a contact surface allowing the two liquid phases to separate and
act as a reaction interface. This interface will be generated across the pores of a membrane
having alternate surface energy properties on each of its faces, called Janus structures. The
hydrophobic face will prevent the aqueous phase to diffuse while the hydrophilic face will
allow it wetting of the surface exposing the enzymes grafted onto the substrate to the VOCs.
Thus, the objective of this project is to develop a new generation of enzyme membrane
contactor to remove toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in the air. The model
VOC chosen for this study is toluene, and the enzyme is a peroxidase. This project is ambitious
in several points:
- This type of contactor does not exist on the market for the intended application
- The treatment of VOCs is currently a real issue, whether in outdoor or indoor air; in fact,
existing processes (incineration, adsorption on activated carbon mainly) suffer from their high
operating costs
- Conventional processes dedicated to the elimination of compounds in the air (such as odors)
such as absorption or biological washing are aimed at more hydrophilic compounds given that
the liquid phase used is most often aqueous (water or water + chemical reagents or water +
nutrients for microorganisms); however, this project targets rather hydrophobic VOCs,
recalcitrant to conventional processes
- The enzymatic route is used very little in treatment processes in the environmental field, and
even less in air treatment; indeed, when we talk about the biological degradation of
compounds in a complex matrix (aqueous or gaseous), it is rather microorganisms (alone, in
consortium or in undifferentiated populations such as activated sludge) which are used in this
field. The enzymes they contain play their role, but there is an increase in biomass, which must
then be removed.
Innovation is based on both:

• the use of an organic solvent tested for more than 10 years in the French team,
and having proven its qualities in terms of absorbent of these hydrophobic VOCs,
and non-biodegradability
• and the use of specific enzymes, at low cost, fixed on an original membrane-type
support.
The different membrane configurations will be developed in the United Arab Emirates, by
Ludovic Dumee’s research team (Khalifa University), and will be tested to achieve this goal in
the CIP team.

Bibliography
Dumont E., Darracq G., Couvert A., Couriol C., Amrane A., Thomas D., Andres Y., Le Cloirec P. 2012.
Hydrophobic VOC absorption in two-phase partitioning bioreactors; influence of silicone oil volume
fraction on absorber diameter. Chem. Eng. Sci. 71: 146-152.

Darracq G., Couvert A., Couriol C., Amrane A., Le Cloirec P. 2012. Removal of hydrophobic VOC in an
integrated process coupling Absorption and Biodegradation – Selection of an organic liquid phase.
Wat. Air Sol Pollut. 223: 4969-4997.
Dumont E., Darracq G., Couvert A., Couriol C., Amrane A., Thomas D., Andres Y., Le Cloirec P. 2013.
Volumetric mass transfer coefficients characterising VOC absorption in water/silicone oil mixtures.
Chem. Eng. J. 221: 308-314.

Tandjaoui N., Tassist A., Abouseoud M., Couvert A., Amrane A. 2019. A combination of absorption and
enzymatic biodegradation: phenol elimination from aqueous and organic phase. Environ. Technol. 40:
625-632.

Tandjaoui N., Wolbert D., Couvert A., Abouseoud M., Amrane A., Tassist A. 2020. An effective toluene
removal from waste-air by a simple process based on absorption in PDMS and BRP-CLEAs catalysis in
organic medium: optimisation with RSM. Environmental Progress Sustainable Energy 39: e13381.

Sellami K., Couvert A., Nasrallah N., Maachi R., Tandjaoui N., Abouseoud M., Amrane A. 2021. Bio-
based and cost effective method for phenolic compounds removal using cross-linked enzyme
aggregates. Journal of Hazardous Materials 403: 124021.