Improvement of a microbial fuel cell performance as a BOD sensor using respiratory inhibitors.

Studies were made to improve the performance of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) as a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) sensor. The signal from MFCs decreased in the presence of electron acceptors of higher redox potential such as nitrate and oxygen. The addition of azide and cyanide did not change the signal in the absence of the electron acceptors. The respiratory inhibitors eliminated the inhibitory effects of the electron acceptors on the current generation from MFCs. Similar results were obtained using oligotrophic MFCs fed with an environmental sample that contained nitrate. The use of the respiratory inhibitors is therefore recommended for the accurate BOD measurement of environmental samples containing nitrate and/or oxygen with an MFC-type BOD sensor.

[1]  Jae Kyung Jang,et al.  A microbial fuel cell with improved cathode reaction as a low biochemical oxygen demand sensor , 2003, Biotechnology Letters.

[2]  G. Gil,et al.  Operational parameters affecting the performannce of a mediator-less microbial fuel cell. , 2003, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[3]  A. E. Greenberg,et al.  Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater : supplement to the sixteenth edition , 1988 .

[4]  Byung Hong Kim,et al.  Enrichment of microbial community generating electricity using a fuel-cell-type electrochemical cell , 2004, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

[5]  V. R. Srinivasan,et al.  Gradient-feed method of growing high cell density cultures of Cellulomonas in a bench-scale fermentor. , 1977, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[6]  Byung Hong Kim,et al.  Novel BOD (biological oxygen demand) sensor using mediator-less microbial fuel cell , 2003, Biotechnology Letters.

[7]  G. Várady,et al.  The influence of nitrapyrin and sodium azide on the growth and respiration of some Rhizobium strains , 1996 .

[8]  Jae Kyung Jang,et al.  Continuous determination of biochemical oxygen demand using microbial fuel cell type biosensor. , 2004, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[9]  E Tamiya,et al.  A novel BOD sensor based on bacterial luminescence , 1993, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[10]  L. P. Solomonson.  Cyanide as a metabolic inhibitor , 1981 .

[11]  A. McEwan,et al.  The identification of cytochromes involved in the transfer of electrons to the periplasmic NO3- reductase of Rhodobacter capsulatus and resolution of a soluble NO3(-)-reductase--cytochrome-c552 redox complex. , 1990, European journal of biochemistry.

[12]  S. R. Ahmad,et al.  Rapid and direct determination of wastewater BOD values using a fluorescence technique , 1997 .

[13]  J. Ingraham,et al.  Properties of dissimilatory nitrate reductase purified from the denitrifier Pseudomonas aeruginosa , 1982, Journal of bacteriology.

[14]  I Karube,et al.  Microbial electrode BOD sensors , 1977, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[15]  V. Stewart.  Nitrate respiration in relation to facultative metabolism in enterobacteria , 1988, Microbiological reviews.

[16]  Isao Karube,et al.  Comparison of the dynamic transient- and steady-state measuring methods in a batch type BOD sensing system , 1997 .

[17]  Jae Kyung Jang,et al.  Improvement of cathode reaction of a mediatorless microbial fuel cell , 2004 .

[18]  L. Hochstein,et al.  The enzymes associated with denitrification. , 1988, Annual review of microbiology.

[19]  In Seop Chang,et al.  Analysis of microbial diversity in oligotrophic microbial fuel cells using 16S rDNA sequences. , 2004, FEMS microbiology letters.

[20]  B. Vennesland.  Cyanide in Biology , 1982 .