Bioelectrochemically-assisted reductive dechlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane by a Dehalococcoides-enriched microbial culture

• Autor(a) principal: Leitão, Patrícia
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Rossetti, Simona, Nouws, Henri P.A., Danko, Anthony S., Majone, Mauro, Aulenta, Federico
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/7243
• topic: Bioelectrochemical dechlorination; 1,2-Dichloroethane; Reductive dechlorination; Microbial biocathode

The aim of this study was to verify the possibility to use a polarized graphite electrode as an electron donor for the reductive dechlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane, an ubiquitous groundwater contaminant. The rate of 1,2-DCA dechlorination almost linearly increased by decreasing the set cathode potential over a broad range of set cathode potentials (i.e., from −300 mV to −900 mV vs. the standard hydrogen electrode). This process was primarily dependent on electrolytic H2 generation. On the other hand, reductive dechlorination proceeded (although quite slowly) with a very high Coulombic efficiency (near 70%) at a set cathode potential of −300 mV, where no H2 production occurred. Under this condition, reductive dechlorination was likely driven by direct electron uptake from the surface of the polarized electrode. Taken as a whole, this study further extends the range of chlorinated contaminants which can be treated with bioelectrochemical systems.