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Biocatalytic dechlorination of hexachlorocyclohexane by immobilized bio-Pd in a pilot scale fluidized bed reactor

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Abstract

Lindane (γ-hexachlorocyclohexane, γ-HCH) is a recalcitrant and toxic organochlorine insecticide. Due to its non-selective production process and widespread use, HCH isomers and their degradation products have been detected frequently in soils and groundwater. An innovative technology using microbial produced Pd(0) nanoparticles, i.e. bio-Pd, was developed to treat groundwater containing a mixture of HCHs and chlorobenzenes. In a first step, the groundwater was de-ironized and most of the chlorobenzenes were removed in a biological trickling filter. The μg L−1 levels of HCHs and chlorobenzenes were removed in a second step by the bio-Pd-based technology. Therefore, a 200-L pilot scale reactor was developed with 100 mg L−1 bio-Pd encapsulated in alginate beads. Hydrogen gas was bubbled at the bottom of the reactor and served to charge the bio-Pd catalyst. The reactor influent contained 5.2 μg L−1 HCHs and 51.1 μg L−1 chlorobenzenes. During a test period of 10 days, 29% of the HCH isomers and 63% of the chlorobenzenes were removed applying a nominal hydraulic residence time of 4 h. These removal percentages could be increased to 75 and 68% by doubling the nominal hydraulic residence time to 8 h. This study demonstrated that biologically produced nanoparticles of Pd can be applied for the large-scale remediation of groundwater contaminated with HCHs.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by Bauer Umwelt GmbH and Pion technologies. Tom Hennebel was supported by the Fund of Scientific Research-Flanders (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) Vlaanderen) (7741-02). The authors thank Gie Spaepen for the many critical, practical and helpful suggestions and Bart De Gusseme, Simon De Corte and Jessica Benner for critically reading the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Tom Hennebel, Henri Simoen, Pieter Verhagen, Nico Boon & Willy Verstraete

  2. Faculty of Applied Engineering Sciences, Laboratory for Environmental Technology, University College Ghent, Voskenslaan 270, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Pieter Verhagen

  3. Biorem Engineering, Avenue de la Concorde 847, 62780, Stella Plage, France

    Wim De Windt

  4. Avecom, Industriepark Wondelgem, Haven 9000, Industrieweg 122 P, 9032, Wondelgem, Belgium

    Jan Dick

  5. Bauer Umwelt GmbH, In der Scherau 1, 86529, Schrobenhausen, Germany

    Christian Weise & Frank Pietschner

Authors
  1. Tom Hennebel
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  2. Henri Simoen
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  3. Pieter Verhagen
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  4. Wim De Windt
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  5. Jan Dick
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  6. Christian Weise
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  7. Frank Pietschner
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  8. Nico Boon
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  9. Willy Verstraete
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Willy Verstraete.

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Hennebel, T., Simoen, H., Verhagen, P. et al. Biocatalytic dechlorination of hexachlorocyclohexane by immobilized bio-Pd in a pilot scale fluidized bed reactor. Environ Chem Lett 9, 417–422 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-010-0295-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-010-0295-x

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