Study on the community structure and function of anaerobic granular sludge under trichloroethylene stress

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is one of the most common groundwater pollutants. It is carcinogenic, teratogenic, mutagenic and poses a serious threat to human health and the environment. Therefore, reducing the environmental toxicity of TCE is of great significance. Anaerobic sludge was cultured and acclimated in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor in this study. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) concentration of the influent was approximately 2500 mg L-1, and the TCE concentration of the influent ranged from 1.46 mg L-1 to 73 mg L-1. After biodegradation of the anaerobic microflora, the COD removal rate was approximately 85%, and the TCE removal rate was over 85%. The microbial community of anaerobic sludge was analysed by 16 S rDNA clone libray and 454 high-throughput sequencing. Through analysis of the sequencing results, we found that there were a variety of acid-forming bacteria, anaerobic dechlorinating bacteria, and methanogenic bacteria. Based on the analysis of microflora function, it was speculated that the TCE metabolic pathway took place in UASB reactors. Desulfovibrio and Syntrophobacter provided an anaerobic environment, and acid-forming bacteria metabolise organic compounds into hydrogen. With Dehalobacter and Geobacter, TCE as an electron acceptor is dechlorinated and reduced under the anaerobic environment, in which hydrogen acts as an electron donor. By this, we clarified the metabolic pathway for improving TCE bioremediation.

Automated summary

This study successfully degraded TCE using a UASB reactor, with the anaerobic sludge containing a variety of bacteria including acid-forming bacteria, anaerobic dechlorinating bacteria, and methanogenic bacteria.