Abstract

Efficient wastewater treatment monitoring is vital for addressing water scarcity. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have emerged as real-time biosensors for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in urban wastewater. Discrepancies in signal generation may arise due to changes in the composition and metabolism of mixed-culture electroactive biofilms stemming from different wastewater compositions. In this study, 3D-printed MFC-based biosensors were employed to assess the BOD of sterile complex artificial wastewater and untreated urban wastewater. Alterations in the microbial composition of the anode were evaluated using 16S rRNA sequencing and metagenomics analysis. Results show that MFC-based biosensors can be effectively recalibrated for diverse types of wastewater, maintaining consistent sensitivity (0.64 ± 0.10 mA L mg−1 m−2 with synthetic wastewater and 0.78 ± 0.13 mA L mg−1 m−2 with urban wastewater) and limit of detection (49 ± 8 mg L−1 for synthetic wastewater and 44 ± 7 mg L−1 for urban wastewater). Crucially, pre-sterilization, conductivity adjustments, and nitrogen purging of wastewater are not required before its introduction into the biosensor. However, the presence of native aerobic microorganisms in the wastewater might affect the current output. Metagenomics and taxonomic analyses revealed that the alterations in biofilm composition are predominantly in response to the varied chemical and microbiological compositions of different substrates. Despite variations in anodic biofilm composition, the MFC-based biosensor maintains a relative error comparable to the standard BOD test. This highlights the resilience and flexibility of the biosensor when directly used with a variety of wastewater types before full biofilm adjustment.

Details

Title
Resilience of anodic biofilm in microbial fuel cell biosensor for BOD monitoring of urban wastewater
Author
Salvian, Anna 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Farkas, Daniel 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Ramirez-Moreno, Marina 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Torruella-Salas, Daniela 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Berná, Antonio 4 ; Avignone-Rossa, Claudio 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Varcoe, John R. 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Esteve-Núñez, Abraham 3 ; Gadkari, Siddharth 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 University of Surrey, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guildford, UK (GRID:grid.5475.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 0407 4824); University of Surrey, Department of Microbial Sciences, Guildford, UK (GRID:grid.5475.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 0407 4824) 
 University of Surrey, Department of Microbial Sciences, Guildford, UK (GRID:grid.5475.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 0407 4824) 
 Universidad de Alcalá, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Alcalá de Henares, Spain (GRID:grid.7159.a) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0239); IMDEA Water Institute, Alcalá de Henares, Spain (GRID:grid.482877.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 1762 3992) 
 IMDEA Water Institute, Alcalá de Henares, Spain (GRID:grid.482877.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 1762 3992) 
 University of Surrey, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guildford, UK (GRID:grid.5475.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 0407 4824) 
Pages
53
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20597037
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3073445069
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2024. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.