Tourmaline guiding the electric field and dechlorination pathway of 2,3-dichlorophenol by Desulfitobacterium hafniense

The dehalogenation of organohalides has been a research hotspot in bioremediation field;however,the influence of tourmaline,a natural ore that can generate spontaneous electric field,on organohalide-respiring bacteria(OHRB)and their dechlorination process is not well known.In this study,the effect and mechanism of tourmaline on the reductive dechlorination of 2,3-dichlorophenol(2,3-DCP)by Desulfitobacterium hafniense DCB-2Twere explored.The characterization results confirmed that tourmaline had good stability and the optimal dosage of tourmaline was 2.5 g/L,which shortened the total time required for dechlorination reaction to 72 hr.Besides,tourmaline amendment also increased the proportion of 2-chlorophenol(2-CP)from 18%to 30%of end products,while that of 3-CP decreased correspondingly.The theoretical calculations showed that the bond charge of the orthosubstituted chlorine declined from-0.179 to-0.067,and that of meta-substituted chlorine increased from-0.111 to-0.129,which indicated that the spontaneous electric field of tourmaline affected the charge distribution of 2,3-DCP and was more conducive to the generation of 2-CP.Overall,tourmaline with the spontaneous electric field affected the reductive dechlorination pathway of Desulfitobacterium,and the tourmaline-OHRB combining system might serve as a novel strategy for the bioremediation of environments polluted with chlorinated phenols.