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The relief of microtherm inhibition for p-fluoronitrobenzene mineralization using electrical stimulation at low temperatures

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Low temperature aggravates biological treatment of refractory p-fluoronitrobenzene (p-FNB) because of microtherm inhibition of microbial activity. Considering the potential characterization of energy supply for microbial metabolism and spurring microbial activity by electrical stimulation, a bioelectrochemical system (BES) was established to provide sustaining electrical stimulation for p-FNB mineralization at a low temperature. Electrical stimulation facilitated p-FNB treatment and bioelectrochemical reaction rate constants for the removal and defluorination of p-FNB at 10 °C were 0.0931 and 0.0054 h−1, which were higher than the sums of the rates found using a biological system and an electrocatalytic system by 62.8 and 64.8 %, respectively. At a low temperature, microbial activity in terms of dehydrogenase and ATPase was found to be higher with electrical stimulation, being 121.1 and 100.1 % more active than that in the biological system. Moreover, stronger antioxidant ability was observed in the BES, which implied a better cold-resistance and relief of microtherm inhibition by electrical stimulation. Bacterial diversity analysis revealed a significant evolution of microbial community by electrical stimulation, and Clostridia was uniquely enriched. One bacterial sequence close to Pseudomonas became uniquely predominant, which appeared to be crucial for excellent p-FNB treatment performance in the BES at a low temperature. Economic evaluation revealed that the energy required to mineralize an extra mole of p-FNB was found to be 247 times higher by heating the system than by application of electrical stimulation. These results indicated that application of electrical stimulation is extremely promising for treating refractory waste at low temperatures.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51478431), a Science and Technology Planning Project from the Science and Technology Department in Zhejiang Province (2013C33004 and 2014C33028), a Postgraduate Technology Innovation Project from Zhejiang Gongshang University (1260XJ1513144), and a project from the Zhejiang Province education department (2014R408087).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Xueqin Zhang, Huajun Feng, Yuxiang Liang, Yuyang Long, Yuan Fang, Meizhen Wang, Jun Yin & Dongsheng Shen

  2. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Recycling, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Huajun Feng, Yuyang Long, Meizhen Wang, Jun Yin & Dongsheng Shen

  3. College of Chemical and Material Engineering, Quzhou University, Quzhou, 324004, China

    Zhiqing Zhao

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  1. Xueqin Zhang
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  6. Yuan Fang
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  8. Jun Yin
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  9. Dongsheng Shen
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Correspondence to Huajun Feng.

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Zhang, X., Feng, H., Liang, Y. et al. The relief of microtherm inhibition for p-fluoronitrobenzene mineralization using electrical stimulation at low temperatures. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 4485–4494 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6357-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6357-4

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