Microbial fuel cell biosensor for the determination of biochemical oxygen demand of wastewater samples containing readily and slowly biodegradable organics

OBJECTIVES: Single-chamber air cathode microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were applied as biosensors for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) measurement of real wastewaters with considerable suspended and/or slowly biodegradable organic content. RESULTS: The measurement method consists of batch sample injection, continuous measurement of cell voltage and calculation of total charge (Q) gained during the biodegradation of organic content. Diverse samples were analyzed: acetate and peptone samples containing only soluble readily biodegradable substrates; corn starch and milk samples with suspended and colloidal organics; real domestic and brewery wastewaters. Linear regression fitted to the Q vs. BOD(5) measurement points of the real wastewaters provided high (> 0.985) R(2) values. Time requirement of the measurement varied from 1 to 4 days, depending on the composition of the sample. CONCLUSIONS: Relative error of BOD measured in the MFCs comparing with BOD(5) was less than 10%, thus the method might be a good basis for the development of on-site automatic BOD sensors for real wastewater samples. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10529-020-03050-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.