Resilience of anodic biofilm in microbial fuel cell biosensor for BOD monitoring of urban wastewater

Salvian, A. and Farkas, D. and Ramírez-Moreno, M. and Torruella-Salas, D. and Berná, A. and Avignone-Rossa, C. and Varcoe, J.R and Esteve-Núñez, A. and Gadkari, S. (2024) Resilience of anodic biofilm in microbial fuel cell biosensor for BOD monitoring of urban wastewater. npj Clean Water, 7 (53). ISSN 2059-7037

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-024-00350-5

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 urbanwastewater. Discrepancies in signal generation may arise due to changes in the composition andmetabolism of mixed-culture electroactive biofilms stemming from different wastewatercompositions. In this study, 3D-printed MFC-based biosensors were employed to assess the BOD ofsterile complex artificial wastewater and untreated urban wastewater. Alterations in the microbialcomposition 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 ofwastewater, maintaining consistent sensitivity (0.64 ± 0.10 mA L mg−1m−2with synthetic wastewaterand 0.78 ± 0.13 mA L mg−1m−2with urban wastewater) and limit of detection (49 ± 8 mg L−1forsynthetic wastewater and 44 ± 7 mg L−1for urban wastewater). Crucially, pre-sterilization,conductivity adjustments, and nitrogen purging of wastewater are not required before its introductioninto the biosensor. However, the presence of native aerobic microorganisms in the wastewater mightaffect the current output. Metagenomics and taxonomic analyses revealed that the alterations inbiofilm composition are predominantly in response to the varied chemical and microbiologicalcompositions 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 theresilience andflexibility of the biosensor when directly used with a variety of wastewater types beforefull biofilm adjustment.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: biofilm; Mac: microbial fuel cell; biosensor; wastewater
Subjects: Q Science > QS Ecology
T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
Depositing User: Belén Barroeta
Date Deposited: 26 Jul 2024 08:59
Last Modified: 26 Jul 2024 08:59
URI: http://eprints.imdea-agua.org:13000/id/eprint/1641

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