Bioelectrochemical Denitrification by Pseudomonas sp. or Anaerobic Bacterial Consortium

Bioelectrochemical Denitrification by Pseudomonas sp. or Anaerobic Bacterial Consortium

In a bacterial denitrification test with Pseudomonas sp. and anaerobic consortium, more nitrates and less substrate were consumed but less metabolic nitrite was produced under an anaerobic $H_2$ condition rather than under $N_2$ condition. In a bioelectrochemical denitrification test with the same organisms, the electrochemically reduced neutral red was confirmed to be a substitute electron donor and a reducing power like $H_2$. The biocatalytic activity of membrane-free bacterial extract, membrane fraction, and intact cell for bioelectrochemical denitrification was measured using cyclic voltammetry. When neutral red was used as an electron mediator, the electron transfer from electrode to electron acceptor (nitrate) via neutral red was not observed in the cyclic voltammogram with the membrane-free bacterial extract, but it was confirmed to gradually increase in proportion to the concentration of nitrate in that of the membrane fraction and the intact cell of Pseudomonas sp.