Effect of o-chlorophenol concentration on biomass during sulfate-reduction dechlorination in two different systems

Challenges and opportunities for the biodegradation of chlorophenols: Aerobic, anaerobic and bioelectrochemical processes

Chlorophenols (CPs) are highly toxic and refractory contaminants which widely exist in various environments and cause serious harm to human and environment health and safety. This review provides comprehensive information on typical CPs biodegradation technologies, the most green and benign ones for CPs removal. The known aerobic and anaerobic degradative bacteria, functional enzymes, and metabolic pathways of CPs as well as several improving methods and critical parameters affecting the overall degradation efficiency are systematically summarized and clarified. The challenges for CPs mineralization are also discussed, mainly including the dechlorination of polychlorophenols (poly-CPs) under aerobic condition and the ring-cleavage of monochlorophenols (MCPs) under anaerobic condition. The coupling of functional materials and degraders as well as the operation of sequential anaerobic-aerobic bioreactors and bioelectrochemical system (BES) are promising strategies to overcome some current limitations. Future perspective and research gaps in this field are also proposed, including the further understanding of microbial information and the specific role of materials in CPs biodegradation, the potential application of innovative biotechnologies and new operating modes to optimize and maximize the function of the system, and the scale-up of bioreactors towards the efficient biodegradation of CPs.

Comparison of treatability of four different chlorophenol-containing wastewater by pyrite-Fenton process combined with aerobic biodegradation: Role of sludge acclimation

Aerobic biodegradation combined with pyrite-Fenton process was used for the treatment of wastewater containing different chlorophenols (4-CP, 2,3-DCP, 2,4-DCP, 2,4,6-TCP). Fenton degradation using pyrite as the low cost iron catalyst was used as a pre-treatment step to lower the toxicity of CPs prior to aerobic biodegradation. Synthetic wastewater spiked directly with either 100 mg/L CPs or pyrite-Fenton pre-treated CPs was fed to the batch bioreactors inoculated with unacclimated or acclimated activated sludge using glucose as the C-source. The results show that the CP biodegradation under aerobic conditions was highly dependent on the type of CP treated. Except for 2,4-DCP, all other CPs investigated caused severe sludge toxicity, and thus significantly hindered glucose degradation by unacclimated sludge. The CP toxicity decreased in the order of: 2,4,6-TCP > 2,3-DCP > 4-CP > 2,4-DCP. The toxic effect was explained through an interaction of CPs with the lipid fraction of cell membrane. While the pyrite-Fenton pre-treatment improved the COD removal efficiency using unacclimated sludge, the sCOD removal efficiency was still less than the control reactor operated with no CP addition. With sludge acclimation, however, the sCOD removal efficiencies increased, and approached 74% for 2,4-DCP, 61% for 4-CP, 56% for 2,4,6-TCP and 46% for 2,3-DCP, suggesting an enhanced biomass tolerance to CP toxicity. On the other hand, the sludge acclimation combined with pyrite Fenton pre-treatment provided the best bioreactor performance for all CPs with the sCOD removal efficiencies reaching 81% for 2,4,6-TCP, 78% for 2,4-DCP, 73% for 4-CP and 62% for 2,3-DCP. This suggests that the dechlorination of CPs with Fenton process, in conjunction with sludge acclimation, not only reduced the sludge toxicity, but also enhanced the bioavailability of CP-containing wastewater for microorganisms, especially for highly chlorinated toxic CPs such as 2,4,6-TCP. Overall, the findings highlight the need for sludge acclimation for effective treatment of chlorophenol-containing wastewater by a combined pyrite-Fenton and aerobic biodegradation system.