Cooperative role of electrical stimulation on microbial metabolism and selection of thermophilic communities for p-fluoronitrobenzene treatment

• Establishment of a thermophilic bioelectrochemical system enhanced p-FNB treatment.
• Electrical stimulation compensated for growth independent of energy requirements.
• Specific thermophilic biocatalysis was enriched for superior p-FNB defluorination.
• Electrical stimulation selected for a functional thermophilic consortia.

A novel thermophilic bioelectrochemical system (TBES) based on electrical stimulation was established for the enhanced treatment of p-fluoronitrobenzene (p-FNB) wastewater. p-FNB removal rate constant in the TBES was 78.6% higher than that of the mesophilic BES (MBES), the elevation of which owing to high-temperature overtook the rate improvement of 50.8% in the electrocatalytic system (ECS). Additionally, an overwhelming mineralization efficiency of 91.96% ± 5.70% was obtained in the TBES. The superiority of TBES was attributed to the integrated role of electrical stimulation and high-temperature. Electrical stimulation provided an alternative for the microbial growth independent energy requirements, compensating insufficient energy support from p-FNB metabolism under the high-temperature stress. Besides, electrical stimulation facilitated microbial community evolution to form specific thermophilic biocatalysis. The uniquely selected thermophilic microorganisms including Coprothermobacter sp. and other ones cooperated to enhance p-FNB mineralization.