2022-07-20, Chen, Tianyu, Wu, Yan, Wang, Jinnan, Corvini, Philippe

By using compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) in combination with high-throughput sequencing analysis (HTS), we successfully evaluated the benzene and toluene biodegradation in a bio-permeable reactive barrier (bio-PRB) and the stress response of the microbial community. Under stress conditions, a greater decline in the biodegradation rate of BTEX was observed compared with the apparent removal rate. Both an increase in the influent concentration and the addition of trichloroethylene (TCE) inhibited benzene biodegradation, while toluene biodegradation was inhibited by TCE. Regarding the stress response, the relative abundance of the dominant bacterial community responsible for the biodegradation of BTEX increased with the influent concentration. However, the dominant bacterial community did not change, and its relative abundance was restored after the influent concentration decreased. On the contrary, the addition of TCE significantly changed the bacterial community, with Aminicenantes becoming the dominant phyla for co-metabolizing TCE and BTEX. Thus, TCE had a more significant influence on the bio-PRB than an increasing influent concentration, although these two stress conditions showed a similar degree of influence on the apparent removal rate of benzene and toluene. The present work not only provides a new method for accurately evaluating the biodegradation performance and microbial community in a bio-PRB, but also expands the application of compound-specific isotope analysis in the biological treatment of wastewater.

2021, Liu, Shuang-Jiang, Corvini, Philippe, Rabaey, Korneel

The international cooperation project "electricity-driven low energy and chemical input technology for accelerated bioremediation" (abridged as "ELECTRA") is jointly supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and European Commission (EC). The ELECTRA consortium consists of 5 research institutions and universities from China and 17 European research institutions and universities, as well as high-tech companies of EC countries. ELECTRA focuses on researches of biodegradation of emerging organic compounds (EOCs) and novel environmental biotechnologies of low-energy and low-chemical inputs. The project has been successfully operated for 2 years, and has made important progresses in obtaining EOCs-degrading microbes, developing weak-electricity-accelerated bioremediation, and 3D-printing techniques for microbial consortium. The ELECTRA has promoted collaborations among the Chinese and European scientists. In the future, ELECTRA will overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and fulfill the scientific objectives through strengthening the international collaboration.