As past studies presented, there is obvious defect that the fillers in the Fe-0/GAC reactor begin to be passive after about 60 d continuous running, although the complicated, toxic and refractory ABS resin wastewater can be pretreated efficiently by the Fe-0/GAC reactor. During the process, the Fe-3(PO4)(2) and FePO4 crystals with high density in the passive film are formed by the reaction between PO43- and Fe2+/Fe3+. Meanwhile, they obstruct the formation of macroscopic galvanic cells between Fe and GAC, which will lower the wastewater treatment efficiency of Fe-0/GAC reactor. In this study, in order to remove the Fe-3(PO4)(2) and FePO4 crystals on the surface of the passive fillers, the bacteria were acclimated in the passive Fe-0/GAC reactor. According to the results, it can be concluded that the Fe-3(PO4)(2) and FePO4 crystals with high density in the passive film could be decomposed or removed by the joint action between the typical propionic acid type fermentation bacteria and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB), whereas the PO43- ions from the decomposition of the Fe-3(PO4)(2) and FePO4 crystals were released into aqueous solution which would be discharged from the passive Fe-0/GAC reactor. Furthermore, the remained FeS and sulfur (S) in the passive film also can be decomposed or removed easily by the oxidation of the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. This study provides some theoretical references for the further study of a cost-effective bio-regeneration technology to solve the passive problems of the fillers in the zero-valent iron (ZVI) or Fe-0/GAC reactor. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.