Compost-derived humic acids as regulators for reductive degradation of nitrobenzene

Ying Yuan; Beidou Xi; Xiaosong He; Wenbing Tan; Rutai Gao; Hui Zhang; Chao Yang; Xinyu Zhao; Caihong Huang; Dan Li

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.06.047

Compost-derived humic acids as regulators for reductive degradation of nitrobenzene

J Hazard Mater. 2017 Oct 5:339:378-384. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.06.047. Epub 2017 Jun 23.

Authors

Ying Yuan¹, Beidou Xi¹, Xiaosong He², Wenbing Tan³, Rutai Gao³, Hui Zhang³, Chao Yang³, Xinyu Zhao¹, Caihong Huang³, Dan Li³

Affiliations

¹ College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; State Environmental Protection Key laboratory of Simulation and Control of Groundwater Pollution, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; State Environmental Protection Key laboratory of Simulation and Control of Groundwater Pollution, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China. Electronic address: hexs@craes.org.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; State Environmental Protection Key laboratory of Simulation and Control of Groundwater Pollution, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.

PMID: 28668755
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.06.047

Abstract

Nitrobenzene (NB) is a major class of contaminants in soil and groundwater. The current methods involved in the reductive degradation of NB suffer either cost-ineffective or slow conversion rate. Here, we investigated the mechanisms regarding compost-derived humic acids (HAs) as cost-effective regulators to enhance the reduction of NB to aniline (AN). Our results show that the compost-derived HAs, which have been reduced by a Pd-H₂ catalytic system, were able to reduce NB to AN, and their redox properties were the main factors governing the reduction of NB to AN. The decreasing reduction of NB was mainly caused by the decreasing phenol content of compost-derived HAs during composting. In addition, the results reveal that the increase in the generation content of AN was mainly attributed to the increase in the quinones, aromaticity and humic-like components of compost-derived HAs. The findings demonstrate that the HAs derived from compost are effective regulators to enhance the reduction of NB to AN, and that they exert a bright application prospect for the remediation of the NB-contaminated soil.

Keywords: Composting; Humic acid; Nitrobenzene reduction.