Development of a Novel Enzyme-based Prototype for Large Scale Water Treatment

Principal Investigator
Syed Salman Ashraf
Department
Chemistry
Focus Area
Water & Environment
Development of a Novel Enzyme-based Prototype for Large Scale Water Treatment

Various types of organic pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and personal care products are increasingly being detected in our water systems. These “emerging pollutants” arise from domestic as well as industrial discharge, but unfortunately, most of them are not removed during the present-day wastewater treatment plants. A large number of studies, including many from our lab, have demonstrated the applicability of enzymes to degrade different classes of organic pollutants. However, there are only a few published examples of real-life water samples being treated with enzymes. Furthermore, these enzyme-based techniques have not yet been incorporated into large-scale water treatment systems. The focus of the project is to develop immobilized enzyme-based systems using two different immobilizing supports (chitosan-based renewable/sustainable support), as well as novel metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and use them to degrade a diverse set of emerging pollutants. Finally, a 100-liter bioreactor using immobilized enzyme-based technology would be developed and tested.

Development of a Novel Enzyme-based Prototype for Large Scale Water Treatment