A biosensor for the analysis of acetonitrile

A biosensor for monitoring acetonitrile was constructed. A mixed culture was taken from a degradation reactor and mounted on top of a Clark electrode. The amperometric biosensor was placed in a flow-through cell and integrated into a flow injection system. The metabolic response in terms of oxygen consumption was well correlated to the concentration of acetonitrile in standard solutions. However, when the reaction products, acetic acid and ammonia, were also present, the response was erratic, due to the additional metabolic reaction on acetate. By introducing a hydrophobic barrier it was possible to eliminate the negative influence of these charged products and thus to improve the operational selectivity of the sensor. The biosensor showed good stability for analysis during at least 6 days and future work will focus on using it for monitoring and control of degradation processes.