Combination of the direct electro-Fenton process and bioremediation for the treatment of pyrene-contaminated soil in a slurry reactor

A combined treatment technology (DEF-BIO) using the direct electro-Fenton (DEF) process and bioremediation (BIO) was established in this study. The performance of the DEF-BIO process on the remediation of a pyrene (PYR)-contaminated soil was evaluated in a slurry reactor. The appropriate order of application was to conduct the DEF process followed by BIO, evaluated through analysis of the degradation characteristics of each process individually. In addition, the application time of the DEF process affected the efficiency of the combined process. The optimum time to apply the DEF process was determined through an analysis of the induced changes in PYR intermediates, pH, soil organic matter (SOM) and bacteria. The optimum application time of the DEF process was 6 h. All the induced changes were beneficial for the BIO phase. The removal of PYR was 91.02% for DEF–BIO after 72 h, and the efficiency was almost 50% increased, compared with the individual DEF and BIO treatments. Therefore, the combined process of DEF–BIO process may be an efficient and promising method for the remediation.