Sensitivity and reusability of a simple microbial fuel cell-based sensor for detecting bisphenol A in wastewater

Ting-Jun Zhu; Chi-Wen Lin; Shu-Hui Liu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138082

Sensitivity and reusability of a simple microbial fuel cell-based sensor for detecting bisphenol A in wastewater

Chemosphere. 2023 Apr:320:138082. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138082. Epub 2023 Feb 8.

Authors

Ting-Jun Zhu¹, Chi-Wen Lin², Shu-Hui Liu³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, 64002, Taiwan, ROC.
² Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, 64002, Taiwan, ROC; Graduate School of Engineering Science and Technology, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, 64002, Taiwan, ROC.
³ Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, 64002, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: shliu@yuntech.edu.tw.

PMID: 36758808
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138082

Abstract

Polycarbonate plastic processing wastewater contains high concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA), requiring a real-time technology to monitor wastewater containing BPA. Since the activity of electrogenic microorganisms on the anode surface of the microbial fuel cell (MFC) sensor is inhibited by exposure to contaminants, the toxicity of contaminants in wastewater can be determined by observing the variation in voltage output from the MFC sensor. The simple MFC sensor that is developed in this work exhibited a significant decrease in voltage output in BPA-containing wastewater concentration of 5-100 mg/L. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the voltage change (ΔV) was strongly correlated with the BPA concentration, with R² as high as 0.97. This study was the first to investigate the number of repeated uses of the MFC sensor, using sodium acetate as the regeneration solution for the MFC sensor, leading to a successful recovery of detection performance. However, as the number of uses increased (up to the third or fourth use), the ΔV of the MFC sensor for BPA gradually decreased and the sensitivity decreased significantly from 0.238 mV/mg/L to 0.027 mV/mg/L. In the low BPA concentration range (≦20 mg/L), the MFC sensor can be reused up to 5 times, demonstrating that the proposed MFC sensor can be reused. Microorganisms contribute to the power generation of the MFC sensor, which can be exploited in the detection of pollutants, enabling the determination of wastewater toxicity and providing early warnings of thereof. Conventional MFC sensors are complex and lack the ability to explore repeated use, so they are not easily applied to actual wastewater detection. The proposed MFC sensor has many advantages such as simplicity, rapid detection, and reusability, solving the problem of the high cost of using disposable MFC sensors and making them feasible for practical use.

Keywords: Biosensor; Bisphenol A (BPA); Microbial fuel cell; Sensitivity analysis; Sensor regeneration; Voltage output.

MeSH terms

Benzhydryl Compounds / analysis
Bioelectric Energy Sources*
Electricity
Electrodes
Phenols / analysis
Wastewater

Substances

Wastewater
bisphenol A
Benzhydryl Compounds
Phenols