DETECTION OF SILAGE EFFLUENT POLLUTION IN RIVER WATER USING BIOSENSORS

Analysis of silage effluent identified glucose and lactic acid as suit able markers for diagnosis of silage effluent pollution in river water . The use of biosensors, utilising the reactions of glucose oxidase an d lactate oxidase to detect glucose and lactic acid respectively, in s ilage effluent, was investigated. The lactate sensor was able to detec t effluent from mature silage at 1/1000 dilution, whilst the glucose s ensor proved more suitable for detecting effluent from freshly ensiled grass, which contains higher levels of sugar than mature silage. In b oth cases the sensor response was within 60 s of exposure to the efflu ent. The potential of biosensors for rapid monitoring in the water ind ustry was demonstrated in this work. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd