Diminished inhibitory impact of ZnO nanoparticles on anaerobic fermentation by the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles: Phenomenon and mechanism

Engineered nanoparticle materials (ENMs) are widely and increasingly produced and employed in many sectors. The use of diverse ENMs potentially leads to the release of multiple ENMs into the environment. These ENMs after discharge will be end in wastewater treatment plant and present in sludge. This work investigated the effect of multi-ENMs systems of ZnO and TiO2 on sludge anaerobic fermentation and the related toxicity mechanism. Results revealed that the toxicity of ZnO ENMs on anaerobic fermentation was reduced in the presence of TiO2 ENMs. Investigation on the change of free Zn2+ and reactive oxygen species (OH and H2O2) suggested that both of free Zn2+ and ROS contributed to the toxicity mechanism. Zn2+ decrease was the main reason for the reduced toxicity in multi-ENMs systems. ROS mainly led to the reduction of cell viability in anaerobic fermentation systems. The presence of TiO2 in the multi-ENMs systems promoted the recovery of enzyme activity, cell viability and bacteria abundance.