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Enhanced Degradation of Atrazine by Soil Microbial Fuel Cells and Analysis of Bacterial Community Structure

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Abstract

Atrazine degradation in soil microbial fuel cells (MFCs) under different anode depths and initial concentrations is investigated for different redox soil conditions, and the microbial communities in the anode and different layers are evaluated. Atrazine degradation is fastest in the upper layer (aerobiotic), followed by the lower layer (anaerobic). A removal efficiency and a half-life of 91.69% and 40 days, respectively, are reported for an anode depth of 4 cm. The degradation rate is found to be dependent on current generation in the soil MFCs rather than on electrode spacing. Furthermore, the degradation rate is inhibited when the initial atrazine concentration is increased from 100 to 750 mg/kg. Meanwhile, the exoelectrogenic bacteria, Deltaproteobacteria and Geobacter, are enriched on the anode and the lower layer in the soil MFCs, while atrazine-degrading Pseudomonas is only observed in very low proportions. In particular, the relative abundances of Deltaproteobacteria and Geobacter are higher for lower initial atrazine concentrations. These results demonstrate that the mechanism of atrazine degradation in soil MFCs is dependent on bioelectrochemistry rather than on microbial degradation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu, China (BK20171351), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21277024), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2242016K41042) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Hui Wang, Lei Li, Xian Cao, Xizi Long & Xianning Li

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  1. Hui Wang
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  2. Lei Li
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Correspondence to Xianning Li.

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Wang, H., Li, L., Cao, X. et al. Enhanced Degradation of Atrazine by Soil Microbial Fuel Cells and Analysis of Bacterial Community Structure. Water Air Soil Pollut 228, 308 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3495-1

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