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Biogenic FeS accelerates reductive dechlorination of carbon tetrachloride by Shewanella putrefaciens CN32
Ying-Chao Huo1, Wen-Wei Li2, Chang-Bin Chen2
1Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; Advanced Laboratory for Environmental Research & Technology (ALERT), USTC-CityU, Suzhou 215123, China; Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Abstract:
Dissimilatory metal reducing bacteria (DMRB) widely exist in the subsurface environment and are involved in various contaminant degradation and element geochemical cycling processes. Recent studies suggest that DMRB can biosynthesize metal nanoparticles during metal reduction, but it is unclear yet how such biogenic nanomaterials would affect their decontamination behaviors. In this study, we found that the dechlorination rates of carbon tetrachloride (CT) by Shewanella putrefaciens CN32 was significantly increased by 8 times with the formation of biogenic ferrous sulfide (FeS) nanoparticles. The pasteurized biogenic FeS enabled 5 times faster dechlorination than abiotic FeS that had larger sizes and irregular structure, confirming a significant contribution of the biogenic FeS to CT bioreduction resulting from its good dispersion and relatively high dechlorination activity. This study highlights a potentially important role of biosynthesized nanoparticles in environmental bioremediation.
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