Effect of electrochemical redox reaction on biochemical ammonium oxidation and chemical nitrite oxidation.

A modified graphite felt electrode with neutral red (NRelectrode) was shown to catalyze the chemical oxidation of nitrite to nitrate under aerobic conditions. The electrochemically oxidized NR-electrode (EO-NR-electrode) and reduced NR-electrode (ER-NR-electrode) catalyzed the oxidation of 1,094+/-39 mg/l and 382+/-45 mg/l of nitrite, respectively, for 24 h. The electrically uncharged NRelectrode (EU-NR-electrode) catalyzed the oxidation of 345+/-47 mg/l of nitrite for 24 h. The aerobic bacterial community immobilized in the EO-NR-electrode did not oxidize ammonium to nitrite; however, the aerobic bacterial community immobilized in the ER-NR-electrode bioelectrochemically oxidized 1,412+/-39 mg/l of ammonium for 48 h. Meanwhile, the aerobic bacterial community immobilized on the EU-NR-electrode biochemically oxidized 449+/-22 mg/l of ammonium for 48 h. In the continuous culture system, the aerobic bacterial community immobilized on the ER-NR-electrode bioelectrochemically oxidized a minimal 1,337+/-38 mg/l to a maximal 1,480+/-38 mg/l of ammonium to nitrate, and the community immobilized on the EU-NR-electrode biochemically oxidized a minimal 327+/-23 mg/l to a maximal 412+/-26 mg/l of ammonium to nitrate every two days. The bacterial communities cultivated in the ER-NR-electrode and EU-NR-electrode in the continuous culture system were analyzed by TGGE on the 20th and 50th days of incubation. Some ammoniumoxidizing bacteria were enriched on the ER-NR-electrode, but not on the EU-NR-electrode.