Michelle M. Lorah
Kelly S. Bender
Chunjie Xia
Jiasi Sun
Jia Liu
Haoran Yang
2026
<p><span id="_mce_caret" data-mce-bogus="1" data-mce-type="format-caret"><span>Groundwater contamination by </span><i>per</i><span>- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) poses a persistent environmental and public health concern. This study evaluates a two-chambered bioelectrochemical system (BES) inoculated with the West Branch Consortium (WBC-2) for PFAS remediation. Under an applied cathodic potential of −450 mV (versus Ag/AgCl), the BES with active WBC-2 achieved >99.0% perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) removal within 21 days in deionized water with culture medium and > 98.9% removal of PFOS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) in contaminated groundwater after 102 days. Intermediate formation (e.g., PFOA, 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (6:2 FTS), perfluoropropionic acid (PFPrA), perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA)) and background-corrected fluoride release were consistent with PFOS transformation under anaerobic reducing conditions potentially involving defluorination. Following repeated PFOS spikes (100 μg/L on Days 0, 50, and 399), PFOA, PFPrA, and PFBA accumulated over 664 days. Despite being the dominant accumulated compound, PFOA accounted for <1.8% of the total spiked PFOS mass. Minimal PFOS transformation occurred in controls without active WBC-2, highlighting the importance of microbial metabolism. Biofilm analysis revealed dense colonization of rod-shaped bacteria on carbon fiber brushes. Enrichment of </span><i>Bacillus</i><span>, </span><i>Agrobacterium</i><span>, and other low-abundance taxa suggests selective adaptation to BES and PFAS conditions. These findings highlight BES driven by electrochemically stimulated microbial activity as a promising strategy for PFAS remediation.</span></span></p>
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10.1016/j.jwpe.2026.110325
en
Elsevier
PFAS remediation in a bioelectrochemical system inoculated with the west branch consortium (WBC-2)
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