Electrochemical Monitoring of Bisphenol A Degradation in Leachate by Trichoderma harzianum Using a Sensitive Sensor of Type SPE in Microbial Fuel Cells

This study reports the development of a simple and sensitive electrochemical sensor based on activated screen-printed electrodes modified by electrodeposition of nickel(II) tetrasulfonated phthalocyanine film (poly-NiTSPc), denoted SPE-A-polyNiTSPc, for the direct determination of BPA in landfill leachate samples. BPA concentrations in raw landfill leachate solutions and in residual solutions after a reverse osmosis (RO) treatment were determined, using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) on SPE-A-polyNiTSPc, to be 29.7 mgL−1 and 6.4 µgL−1, respectively. The obtained BPA concentrations were very close to those found by the accredited lab in the same samples, which were 29.6 mgL−1 and 6.0 µgL−1, respectively. The applicability of SPE-A-polyNiTSPc for BPA bioremediation was investigated in landfill leachate samples using Trichoderma harzianum fungus in a microbial fuel cell (MFC), where the kinetics data were modeled. The first results showed an IC50 of 175 mgL−1 BPA, indicating that the inhibition factor could be negligeable for MFC experiments at 30 mgL−1 BPA. The biodegradation kinetics was found to be of first order, with a kinetic constant of 0.795 h−1 at 22 °C and a half-degradation time of 0.872 h for an initial concentration of 29 mgL−1. The developed MFC displayed higher stability, offering a maximum power of 100 mWm−3.