The Development of an Enhanced Bioreactor Cell for Coupling With Nonthermal Gas–Liquid Plasma Reactors in Wastewater Treatment

This work presents a critical step toward coupling engineered microbial systems with nonthermal plasma for wastewater treatment. Using synthetic biology, Pseudomonas putida was engineered with constitutive and inducible green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression to assess tolerance to plasma‐induced oxidative stress and capacity for degradation of plasma‐generated intermediates. About 45 mg/L of formic acid was degraded within 6 min, while 80 mM of H 2 O 2 was removed within 3 min under controlled conditions. Following plasma exposure, about 50% of the bacterial population survived, with metabolic activity confirmed via GFP expression. Within the coupled system, plasma oxidized 1,4‐dioxane to formic acid, while the bacteria simultaneously reduced the formic acid concentration by 44% in situ, demonstrating the feasibility for plasma‐bioreactor integration.