Efficient anaerobic bioremediation of high-concentration benzo[a] pyrene in marine environments

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a persistent organic pollutant that may accumulate in sea sediments after oil spill or BaP chemical leakage accidents, considerably harms marine ecosystems and human health. Previous studies have been predominantly focused on its degradation at low concentrations, while the remediation of BaP pollution with high concentrations was neglected. Additionally, the metabolic pathways associated with its anaerobic degradation remain unclear. As a first attempt, super-efficient systems for BaP anaerobic degradation were established, and the corresponding metabolic pathways were elucidated in this study. The results showed that the BaP removal rate in BaP-only system with initial concentrations of 200 mg/L reached 3.09 mg/(L center dot d) within 45 days. Co-solvent, acetone promoted anaerobic BaP degradation (4.252 mg/(L center dot d)), while dichloromethane showed a newly-discovered co-metabolic effect. In the system with 500 mg/L of BaP and dichloromethane addition, the removal rate increased drastically (14.64 mg/(L center dot d)) at 400 mg/L turn point of BaP. Additionally, the corresponding microbial community level metabolic network was firstly proposed.& nbsp; (C)& nbsp;2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study established highly efficient systems for anaerobic degradation of benzo[a]pyrene and identified the promoting effect of co-solvent and co-metabolic effect. The removal rate of benzo[a]pyrene at high concentrations was influenced by the co-solvent and co-metabolic effects.