Hexacyanoferrate-adapted biofilm enables the development of a microbial fuel cell biosensor to detect trace levels of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in oxygenated seawater

L. Cheng; S.B. Quek; R. Cord-Ruwisch

doi:10.1002/bit.25315

Back

Hexacyanoferrate-adapted biofilm enables the development of a microbial fuel cell biosensor to detect trace levels of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in oxygenated seawater

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Hexacyanoferrate-adapted biofilm enables the development of a microbial fuel cell biosensor to detect trace levels of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in oxygenated seawater

L. Cheng, S.B. Quek and R. Cord-Ruwisch

Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol.111(12), pp.2412-2420

2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.25315

Files and links (2)

pdf

hexacyanoferrate-adapted_biofilm.pdfDownload View

Author’s Version Open Access

url

Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

A marine microbial fuel cell (MFC) type biosensor was developed for the detection of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in ocean water for the purpose of online water quality monitoring for seawater desalination plants prone to biofouling of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. The anodophilic biofilm that developed on the graphite tissue anode could detect acetate as the model AOC to concentrations as low as 5 µM (120 µg/L of AOC), which is sufficiently sensitive as an online biofouling risk sensor. Although the sensor was operated at a higher (+200 ± 10 mV) than the usual (-300 mV) anodic potential, the presence of oxygen completely suppressed the electrical signal. In order to overcome this outcompeting effect of oxygen over the anode as electron acceptor by the bacteria, hexacyanoferrate (HCF(III)) was found to enable the development of an adapted biofilm that transferred electrons to HCF(III) rather than oxygen. As the resultant of the reduced HCF(II) could readily transfer electrons to the anode while being re-oxidised to HCF(III), the marine MFC biosensor developed could be demonstrated to work in the presence of oxygen unlike traditional MFC. The possibility of operating the marine MFC in batch or continuous (in-line) mode has been explored by using coulombic or potentiometric interpretation of the signal. Biotechnol. Bioeng.

Details

Title: Hexacyanoferrate-adapted biofilm enables the development of a microbial fuel cell biosensor to detect trace levels of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in oxygenated seawater
Authors/Creators: L. Cheng (Author/Creator) - Murdoch University
S.B. Quek (Author/Creator) - School of Engineering and Information TechnologyMurdoch University90, South Street, PerthWest Australia6150Australia
R. Cord-Ruwisch (Author/Creator) - School of Engineering and Information TechnologyMurdoch University90, South Street, PerthWest Australia6150Australia
Publication Details: Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol.111(12), pp.2412-2420
Publisher: Wiley - V C H Verlag GmbbH & Co
Identifiers: 991005543360607891
Copyright: © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Engineering and Information Technology
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites

Metrics

256 File views/ downloads

38 Record Views

21 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.83 Bioengineering; 3.83.1487 Microbial Fuel Cell
Web Of Science research areas: Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
ESI research areas: Biology & Biochemistry