Development of an NDIR CO2 Sensor-Based System for Assessing Soil Toxicity Using Substrate-Induced Respiration

Sensors

Jasmeen Kaur¹  Viacheslav I. Adamchuk¹  Joann K. Whalen²  Ashraf A. Ismail³ 

[1] Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada; E-Mail:;Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada; E-Mail:;Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada; E-Mail:

关键词: CO₂ sensor;    soil toxicity;    substrate-induced respiration;    non-dispersive infrared;    petroleum;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s150304734

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The eco-toxicological indicators used to evaluate soil quality complement the physico-chemical criteria employed in contaminated site remediation, but their cost, time, sophisticated analytical methods and in-situ inapplicability pose a major challenge to rapidly detect and map the extent of soil contamination. This paper describes a sensor-based approach for measuring potential (substrate-induced) microbial respiration in diesel-contaminated and non-contaminated soil and hence, indirectly evaluates their microbial activity. A simple CO₂ sensing system was developed using an inexpensive non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) CO₂ sensor and was successfully deployed to differentiate the control and diesel-contaminated soils in terms of CO₂ emission after glucose addition. Also, the sensor system distinguished glucose-induced CO₂ emission from sterile and control soil samples (p ≤ 0.0001). Significant effects of diesel contamination (p ≤ 0.0001) and soil type (p ≤ 0.0001) on glucose-induced CO₂ emission were also found. The developed sensing system can provide in-situ evaluation of soil microbial activity, an indicator of soil quality. The system can be a promising tool for the initial screening of contaminated environmental sites to create high spatial density maps at a relatively low cost.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.