DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW BIOFILM MONITORING ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSOR

Serious wide-range technological problems (corrosion, equipment failure, energy loss, reduced performance, increased fuel cost and resistance to antimicrobial treatments) may be caused by the biofilm development on any artificial man-made apparatus (ship hulls, fluid flow systems, water distribution devices, marine sensors, medical equipments), with subsequent highly negative economic repercussions. About the implementation of biofilm hindering treatments, the possibility of monitoring bacterial growth is of primary importance. In this contest we have developed a new sensor, that exploits the natural marine and freshwater biofilms electrochemical activity, proportional to surface covering. This technique is based on the usually called "ennoblement" phenomenon, largely studied in the last 20 years. Compared to the few existing sensors based on ennoblement, the here presented alpha-prototype (patent pending) exhibits significant technological innovations, such as distributed approach, completely digital management, real-time monitoring, data accessibility from remote, high sensitivity, precision and flexibility. The results presented in this work, obtained testing the alpha-prototype in an industrial environment, show that the sensor gives a fast and accurate response proportional to the biofilm surface covering evolution. Moreover, potential applications and further developments of this new sensor are discussed.