Complete debromination of decabromodiphenyl ether using the integration of Dehalococcoides sp. strain CBDB1 and zero-valent iron

This study investigated the effects of nano- and micro-scale zero-valent iron (nZVI and mZVI) particles on Dehalococcoides sp. strain CBDB1 participating in anaerobic reduction of polybrominated diphenyl ethers. nZVI (>0.25 g L−1) had an inhibitory effect upon this strain, whereas 1.0 g L−1 mZVI showed no negative impact on bacterial growth. Strain CBDB1 could only utilize lower brominated congeners (<7 bromines) as electron acceptor. In the bio-ZVI system, decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) was first reduced by ZVI to lower brominated congeners, which were then dehalogenated to diphenyl ether by CBDB1. Within 30 d, a BDE-209 debromination efficiency of 16% and 24% was obtained in the bio-nZVI (0.25 g L−1) and bio-mZVI (1.0 g L−1) systems with a corresponding diphenyl ether yield efficiency of 14% and 19%, respectively. The debromination efficiency increased significantly from 8% to 24% with an increase of mZVI dosage from 0.25 to 1.0 g L−1 in the bio-mZVI system.