Bioelectroventing: an electrochemical‐assisted bioremediation strategy for cleaning‐up atrazine‐polluted soils

Abstract

Summary The absence of suitable terminal electron acceptors ( TEA ) in soil might limit the oxidative metabolism of environmental microbial populations. Bioelectroventing is a bioelectrochemical strategy that aims to enhance the biodegradation of a pollutant in the environment by overcoming the electron acceptor limitation and maximizing metabolic oxidation. Microbial electroremediating cells ( MERC s) are devices that can perform such a bioelectroventing . We also report an overall profile of the 14 C‐ ATR metabolites and 14 C mass balance in response to the different treatments. The objective of this work was to use MERC principles, under different configurations, to stimulate soil bacteria to achieve the complete biodegradation of the herbicide 14 C‐atrazine ( ATR ) to 14 CO 2 in soils. Our study concludes that using electrodes at a positive potential [+600 mV (versus Ag/AgCl)] ATR mineralization was enhanced by 20‐fold when compared to natural attenuation in electrode‐free controls. Furthermore, ecotoxicological analysis of the soil after the bioelectroventing treatment revealed an effective clean‐up in < 20 days. The impact of electrodes on soil bioremediation suggests a promising future for this emerging environmental technology.

Key findings

• ▸Our study concludes that using electrodes at a positive potential [+600 mV (versus Ag/AgCl)] ATR mineralization was enhanced by 20‐fold when compared to natural attenuation in electrode‐free controls.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.1111/1751-7915.12687

Journal

Microbial Biotechnology

Year

2017