The phenol efficient degradation using co‐culture coupled with enhanced electricity generation capability

Abstract The co‐culture of strain Citrobacter sp. RDC and Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA was used in this study and it was found that the co‐culture using 200 mg/L phenol as carbon source exhibited higher maximum current density than using the single strain RDC and G. sulfurreducens PCA, respectively. Meanwhile, the co‐culture was used to generate electricity by degrading phenol with the current density of 699.07 μA/cm 2 by using 200 mg/L phenol as the sole carbon source, which was higher than that only using G. sulfurreducens PCA (236.20 μA/cm 2 ). Especially, the degradation efficiency of 200 mg/L phenol by co‐culture can reach 55.16 % within 36 h being 4.16‐fold higher than the single strain G. sulfurreducens PCA. Furthermore, the component ratio of two strains was optimized for increasing electricity generation using 500 mg/L phenol as carbon source. The maximum current density was 501.54 μA/cm 2 under the ratio of 3 : 1 for strain RDC to G. sulfurreducens PCA. These results highlight that phenol is good carbon source for co‐culture to produce electricity. The co‐culture system provides a promising application pathway for phenol degradation treatment coupled with electricity generation in the future.