Biosensor for rapid phosphate monitoring in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system

A thick-film phosphate biosensor based on hydrogel immobilized pyruvate oxidase (POD) has been developed for rapid phosphate process control monitoring in an experimental sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system. We have employed a phosphate biosensor in an off-line monitoring of phosphate concentrations in a bench scale SBR. Measurements with biosensor show a good correlation (r(2) = 0.98) with those of commercial colorimetric phosphate testing kits. The signal response time was 1 min with a detection limit of 5 muM. The biosensor method showed a good operational stability, needed less experimental procedures and a small sample size (similar to20 mul). This allows its practical application for rapid phosphate measurements to obtain real time process data in a SBR system. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.