Sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification
How biofilm and elemental sulfur reorganise inside a fixed-bed reactor, and what that does to nitrate removal from groundwater.
Explore this lineUniversidad de los Andes · Santiago, Chile
The bottleneck isn't biology, it's flow
What drives me is understanding why a reactor performs the way it does. I use computational fluid dynamics to open that black box —flow, biofilm, transport— and turn what I learn into predictive models for optimising and designing real processes. I have taken the same question to the treatment of gases, water and soils.
Postdoctoral Researcher
PhD in Engineering Sciences · Chemical Engineer
4
Indexed articles
30
Citations
3
Grants awarded
9
Theses supervised
About
- Role
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Affiliation
- Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Universidad de los Andes
- ORCID
- 0000-0002-5255-2363
- facarreno@miuandes.cl
I hold a PhD in Engineering Sciences (Summa cum laude) and a degree in Chemical Engineering, and I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Universidad de los Andes. I lead, as Principal Investigator, the Fondecyt Postdoctoral Grant No. 3250412 (2025–2028), devoted to characterising biofilm and elemental sulfur dynamics in fixed-bed reactors for the autotrophic denitrification of groundwater.
Over my career I have applied these tools to very different problems — gas biofiltration, soil bioremediation, multiphase simulation of cementitious materials — and that multidisciplinary drive has shaped my work and my international collaborations with the University of California, Davis and the University of Valladolid.
My goal is to consolidate an independent line aimed at building digital twins of reactors from CFD simulations, and later to extend these tools to natural aquatic systems.
CV →Research
Research lines
Three questions that run through everything I do.
Hydrodynamics of biofilters and bioreactors
Validating what simulation says about the real flow inside a packed bed, using residence time distributions.
Explore this lineLiving porous media and bioclogging
What happens to flow, mixing and reaction when biomass progressively clogs a porous medium.
Explore this lineTowards digital twins of reactors
Where this is going: turning expensive simulations into fast models that can drive operation and design in real time.
Explore this linePublications
Selected publications
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2026
Enhancing sulfur-based denitrification with natural zeolite: performance under autotrophic and mixotrophic operation
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-026-10352-4 -
2026
Hybrid section-based modeling of gas-phase hydrodynamics in biotrickling filters: influence of packing material on residence time distributions
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2025.110049 -
2023
A convenient method to validate the gas flow of a CFD–CT simulation applied to a packed bed used in gas biofiltration through residence time distributions
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.138795
Latest
News
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Publication Aug 2026
New article in Biodegradation
Enhancing sulfur-based denitrification with natural zeolite: performance under autotrophic and mixotrophic operation.
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Conference May 2026
Poster at InterPore 2026, Nantes
Living porous media: uncovering the microbe–fluid–rock interactions that reshape subsurface transport, presented at the InterPore annual meeting.
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Publication Mar 2026
New article in Biochemical Engineering Journal
Hybrid section-based modeling of gas-phase hydrodynamics in biotrickling filters: influence of packing material on residence time distributions.
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Conference Oct 2025
XXII Chilean Congress of Chemical Engineering
Simulación CFD de un biofiltro de lecho empacado con azufre elemental aplicado a la desnitrificación autótrofa — poster and oral presentation.
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Grant Apr 2025
Fondecyt Postdoctoral Grant No. 3250412 awarded
Assessing biofilm and elemental sulfur dynamics in a groundwater elemental sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification fixed bed reactor through CFD simulations coupled with digital imaging techniques, as Principal Investigator.
Support
Funding
- ANIDNational Research and Development Agency — Fondecyt Postdoctoral Grant 3250412
- CORFOSemilla Inicia 22INI2-239253
- Universidad de los AndesResearch Support Fund (FAI)
Want to do your thesis with me?
I am looking for students in Chemical, Environmental or related Engineering with an interest in numerical simulation, water treatment or biological processes. Previous CFD experience is not required — curiosity and a willingness to code are. Write to me with a short note on what interests you.