Enhanced anaerobic biodegradation of nonylphenol ethoxylates by introducing additional sulfate or nitrate as terminal electron acceptors

The potential to enhance the anaerobic biodegradation of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs) by introducing additional sulfate or nitrate as electron acceptor was investigated. The results showed that adding nitrate or sulfate could significantly enhance the anaerobic biodegradation of NPEOs and alleviate the accumulation of their estrogenic intermediates. However, these terminal electron acceptors had no influence on the component of the anaerobic biodegradation products of NPEOs. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report of the enhancement of anaerobic biodegradation of NPEOs by introducing additional terminal electron acceptor with relatively high redox potential. These observations have significant environmental implications in terms of the environmental behavior of NPEO contaminants in natural environment.