The effects and mechanism of organic matter degradation in river sediment driven by humic-reducing bacteria

The reduction of organic pollutants in sediments is essential for controlling the rebound of black-odor waterbodies. Humic-reducing bacteria are promising in the anaerobic remediation of river sediments. However, the material conditions and environmental factors influencing organic matter (OM) degraded by humic-reducing bacteria in river sediment remain unclear. In this study, humic-reducing bacteria agents (HRBs) were used to remediate sediments with different contamination levels. The result indicated that HRBs remove light fraction organic matter (LFOM) in sediment with a high active organic matter (ATOM) content and can remove heavy fraction organic matter (HFOM) in sediment with a high degree of humification. Correlation analysis showed that OM removal was significantly correlated with fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolase activity (R = 0.89, P ≤ 0.01) and acidified volatile sulfides (AVS) content (R = 0.81, P ≤ 0.05), respectively. Combined analyses of changes in iron morphology and FDA hydrolase activity revealed that HRBs mediated the reduction process of iron minerals, leading to an increase in Fe(II) content in sediment. HFOM complexed with iron minerals was released and could be further decomposed and utilized by FDA hydrolases. In addition, the process of OM degraded by HRBs can induce the accumulation of Fe(II) and AVS. The work helps to understand the mechanism of OM degraded by HRBs in sediment and the applicable conditions for the effective removal of OM by HRBs to control the rebound of black-odor waterbodies caused by endogenous pollution.