A Novel Method for Enhancing Strains’ Biodegradation of 4-Chloronitrobenzene

This paper introduces a novel approach to enhance the strains’ biodegradation of 4-chloronitrobenzene by utilizing the synergistic effect of the organic reductant mannitol and the substrate beef extraction. Our results demonstrate that 4-chloronitrobenzene could not be an available nitrogen source to support target strains’ growth, which induced the limited 4-chloronitrobenzene biodegradation. In addition, the organic reducing agent and substrate had a better synergistic effect than inorganic reducing agent and substrate to enhance the strains’ 4-chloronitrobenzene cometabolic biodegradation. Employing the synergistic effect of the optimal mixture (mannitol and beef extraction), the biodegradation rates of 50 mg L⁻¹ 4-chloronitrobenzene by seven of the ten target strains were enhanced up to 100% from previous removals of no more than 19.1% after 7 days. Three of the strains could even completely degrade 100 mg L⁻¹ 4-chloronitrobenzene while five strains degraded over 91.4%. The method has good potential to enhance bioremediation of various 4-Chloronitrobenzene-contaminated environments as mannitol and beef extraction are non-toxic to the environment.