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Conductive polyaniline improves Cr(VI) bio-reduction by anaerobic granular sludge

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Abstract

The polyaniline (PANI) was used as a conductive medium to improve the anaerobic granular sludge (AGS) to reduce Cr(VI) in the wastewater. The results showed that PANI can effectively enhance the AGS to reduce Cr(VI). Cr(VI) reduction efficiency increased with increasing the PANI dosage, and 3 g/L of PANI was suggested as the optimized dosage. Almost all the Cr(VI) can be reduced by the AGS added with PANI within 110 min when the initial Cr(VI) concentration was 20 mg/L, which was much faster than that by the pristine PANI or AGS. The obtained Cr(III) can be further adsorbed on the surface of AGS, which facilitates the recovery of Cr(III) from aqueous solution. The mechanisms involved in the enhanced Cr(VI) reduction by the PANI were also disclosed. It was found that the PANI plays different roles in enhancing Cr(VI) reduction when the initial Cr(VI) concentration was different. When the initial Cr(VI) concentration was low, PANI acts as the conductive medium to enhance the bioreduce Cr(VI), while it acted as the conductive medium as well as the direct electron donor for improving Cr(VI) reduction when the initial Cr(VI) concentration increased.

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Funding

This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021ZY77) and the Ecological Environment of Urban and Rural Human Settlements (GJJXK210105).

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  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jingjie Chai, Qian Hu & Bin Qiu

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  1. Jingjie Chai
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Correspondence to Bin Qiu.

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Chai, J., Hu, Q. & Qiu, B. Conductive polyaniline improves Cr(VI) bio-reduction by anaerobic granular sludge. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 4, 1137–1145 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-021-00342-w

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