Study the biocatalyzing effect and mechanism of cellulose acetate immobilized redox mediators technology (CE-RM) on nitrite denitrification

The biocatalyzing effect of a novel cellulose acetate immobilized redox mediators technology (CE-RM) on nitrite denitrification process was studied with anthraquinone, 1,8-dichloroanthraquinone, 1,5-dichloroanthraquinone and 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone. The results showed that the immobilized 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone presented the best biocatalyzed effect which increased nitrite denitrification rate to 2.3-fold with 12 mmol/L 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone. The unequal biocatalyzing effect was due to the quantity and position of –Cl substituent in anthraquinone-structure. Moreover, the nitrite denitrification rate was increased with the oxidation reduction potential (ORP) values becoming more negative during the biocatalyzing process. The stabilized ORP value with 12 mmol/L immobilized 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone were 81 mV lower than the control. At the same time, the more OH− was produced with the higher nitrite removal rate achieved in the nitrite denitrification process. In addition, a positive linear correlation was found between the nitrite removal reaction constants k [gNO2 −–N/(gVSS d)] and immobilized 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone concentration (C 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone), which was k = 1.8443 C 1,4,5,8-tetrachloroanthraquinone + 33.75(R 2 = 0.9411). The initial nitrite concentration of 179 mgNO2 −–N/L resulted in the maximum nitrite removal rate, which was 6.526[gNO2 −–N/(gVSS d)]. These results show that the application of cellulose acetate immobilized redox mediators (CE-RM) can be valuable for increasing nitrite denitrification rate.