The CFD modelling and simulation of the bioleaching reactor will be conducted by project partners and the work for this post-doc position will focus on modelling the evolution of a PCB recycling process over time based on a multivariate population balance describing the populations of solid PCB particles according to two internal variables, namely their size and chemical nature.

While fully-resolved hydrokinetic description of bioleaching process remain reachable at the 50 L pilotscale, its extension to possible industrial reactors will have to be simplified using a compartmental approach. Mass balances, implementing the PCB bioleaching kinetic model will be applied to a reasonable number of compartments, in close collaboration with partners runnign the CFD to design the size and interconnecting liquid and gas flowrates of the model.