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Degradation of sulfamethazine by microbial electrolysis cell with nickel–cobalt co-modified biocathode

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Abstract

In this study, nickel–cobalt co-modified stainless steel mesh (Ni-Co@SSM) was prepared and used as the biocathode in microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) for sulfamethazine (SMT) degradation. The optimal electrochemical performance of the Ni-Co@SSM was obtained at the electrodeposition time of 600 s, electrodeposition current density of 20 mA cm−2, and nickel–cobalt molar ratio of 1:2. The removal of SMT in MEC with the Ni-Co@SSM biocathode (MEC-Ni-Co@SSM) was 82%, which increased by 30% compared with the conventional anaerobic reactor. Thirteen intermediates were identified and the potential degradation pathways of SMT were proposed. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Patescibacteria, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, and Euryarchaeota are the dominant bacteria at the phylum level in the MEC-Ni-Co@SSM, which are responsible for SMT metabolism. Due to the electrical stimulation, there was an increase in the abundance of the metabolic function and the genetic information processing. This work provides valuable insight into utilizing MECs for effective treatment of antibiotic-containing wastewater.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22166023), the Industrial Support Plan Project of Colleges and Universities in Gansu Province (Grant No. 2023CYZC-30), the Talents Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project of Lanzhou (Grant No. 2021-RC-20), and the National Key Research and Development Innovative methods work special Program of China (SQ2020IM030400).

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  1. Yabin Li and Qian Wei contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Petrochemical Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, People’s Republic of China

    Yabin Li, Qian Wei, Xia Zhao, Yihan Qi & Menghan Guo

  2. Lanzhou Sanmao Industrial LLC, Lanzhou, 730316, People’s Republic of China

    Weijing Liu

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  1. Yabin Li
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  3. Xia Zhao
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Yabin Li: data curation, software, writing—original draft and editing. Qian Wei: investigation, methodology, formal analysis, validation, writing—original draft. Xia Zhao: conceptualization, resource, funding acquisition, project administration, writing—review and editing. Yihan Qi: investigation, supervision. Menghan Guo: methodology, software. Weijing Liu: resource, investigation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xia Zhao.

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Li, Y., Wei, Q., Zhao, X. et al. Degradation of sulfamethazine by microbial electrolysis cell with nickel–cobalt co-modified biocathode. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 16497–16510 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32313-1

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