Characterisation of Electrochemical Sensor-Array for Utilisation in Construction of BOD Bioelectronic Tongue

Abstract

There is need to rapidly measure biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) to estimate organic pollution in wastewater. Biosensors are able to estimate BOD values within 5–30 minutes, but they have some limitations that can be overcome with biosensor-array. This work used sensor-array, which consists of 8 × 3 electrodes. The working electrode was inner Pt circle electrode, counter electrode was a Pt band electrode and the reference electrode was a silver wire. The potentiostat was used to record cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The pumping speed was set at 1.5 cm3 min−1 or higher, to avoid the interference. Next, sensor-array was tested to measure different oxygen amounts and calibrated accordingly. Lastly, Pseudomonas putida membranes were calibrated and used to estimate BOD value. The calibration gave linear range up to 85 mg L−1 of BOD and sensitivity from 0.0018 to 0.0068. Real industrial wastewater, from lignocellulosic bioethanol production, was used to test the biosensor-array. It underestimated BOD values from 8 to 37 %. This biosensor-array allows to measure BOD value in less than 15 minutes.