A microbiosensor for the detection of methane in environmental samples

• Author / Creator

  Chen, Yijun

• The study of methanogenesis in wastewater biofilms and various aggregated methanogenic environmental samples with high spatial resolution can be achieved by using microbiosensor techniques. In this study, the fabrication of a microbiosensor for methane detection was studied. This microbiosensor is composed of an oxygen microsensor, a gas capillary and a media capillary. The methane oxidizing bacteria are immobilized in the media capillary and can consume oxygen from the gas capillary. Associating with the consumption of oxygen, the external partial pressure of methane can be reflected by the signal of the oxygen microsensor. These three components of the methane microbiosensor were assembled together with sensor tip diameter of around 190 μm. The methane microbiosensor can exhibit linear response in the range of 0-1 atm partial pressure of methane when the bacteria have good activity. Alternatively, the methane microbiosensor only exhibits linear response at lower concentrations when the bacteria are less active. To test the performance of the methane microbiosensor, we also applied this technique to the testing of methane concentration in a sludge sample from an anaerobic digester used for municipal wastewater treatment. The results showed that the fabrication and calibration of the methane microbiosensor were successful, and it can be used for measurements of methane concentration in aggregated methanogenic environmental samples.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Methane
  • Biofilms
  • Microbiosensor

• Graduation date

  Spring 2016

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3FQ9QB2P

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.