Application of dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria for the remediation of soil and water polluted with chlorinated organic compounds: Progress, mechanisms, and directions

Abstract

Chlorinated organic compounds are widely used as solvents, but they are pollutants that can have adverse effects on the environment and human health. Dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria (DIRB) such as Shewanella and Geobacter have been applied to treat a wide range of halogenated organic compounds due to their specific biological properties. Until now, there has been no systematic review on the mechanisms of direct or indirect degradation of halogenated organic compounds by DIRB. This work summarizes the discussion of DIRB's ability to enhance the dechlorination of reaction systems through different pathways, both biological and biochemical. For biological dechlorination, some DIRB have self-dechlorination capabilities that directly dechlorinate by hydrolysis. Adjustment of dechlorination genes through genetic engineering can improve the dechlorination capabilities of DIRB. DIRB can also adjust the capacity for the microbial community to dechlorinate and provide nutrients to enhance the expression of dechlorination genes in other bacteria. In biochemical dechlorination, DIRB bioconverts Fe(III) to Fe(II), which is capable of dichlorination. On this basis, the DIRB-driven Fenton reaction can efficiently degrade chlorinated organics by continuously maintaining anoxic conditions to generate Fe(II) and oxic conditions to generate H2O2. DIRB can drive microbial fuel cells due to their electroactivity and have a good dechlorination capacity at low levels of energy consumption. The contribution of DIRB to the removal of pesticides, antibiotics and POPs is summarized. Then the DIRB electron transfer mechanism is discussed, which is core to their ability to dechlorinate. Finally, the prospect of future work on the removal of chlorine-containing organic pollutants by DIRB is presented, and the main challenges and further research directions are suggested.