Mechanisms of emerging pollutant Dechlorane Plus on the production of short-chain fatty acids from sludge anaerobic fermentation

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 26; pp. 34902 - 34912
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jing, Zhao, Jianwei, Sun, Yingjie, Xin, Mingxue, Zhang, Dalei, Bian, Rongxing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acidification; Actinobacteriaceae; Activated sludge; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; chlorinated hydrocarbons; Disintegration; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Extracellular polymers; Fatty acids; Fermentation; Firmicutes; Flame retardants; hydrolysis; microbial communities; Microorganisms; Organic compounds; Pollutants; pollution; Polymers; Relative abundance; Research Article; Sludge; Solid suspensions; Total suspended solids; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Waste-activated sludge; Short-chain fatty acids; Dechlorane Plus; Microbial community
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-13101-7

The effect of emerging pollutant Dechlorane Plus (DPs), an organochlorine aliphatic flame retardant, on waste-activated sludge anaerobic fermentation was investigated, and the related mechanisms were revealed for the first time. The results of this experiment suggested that the presence of DPs had a significant inhibitory effect on sludge anaerobic fermentation to generate the intermediate valuable product short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), and when the DP content was 3034.1±101.7 mg/kg total suspended solids (TSS), the maximal output of SCFA was only 215.04 mg/g, which was 0.47 times of that in the blank. The underlying mechanism investigation indicated DPs promoted the disintegration of sludge, but inhibited the process of hydrolysis and acidification. DPs inhibited the release of soluble bound extracellular polymers (SB-EPS) in sludge. The analysis of microbial community characteristics indicated that DPs reduced the level of Firmicutes and Actinobacteriathe , which were the key acid producing bacteria. At the genus level, DPs reduced the relative abundance of Proteiniclasticum and Mycobacterium was.