Measuring metal content using special bacterial sensors sheds new light on the problem of contamination by heavy metals.
Less costly and restrictive than conventional methods, the “Biometox Solution” also takes into account their actual bioavailability.
Through an approach that combines an array of biosensors with differential sensitivities as well as neural network processing, the content levels of five metals (copper, lead, zinc, arsenic and mercury) are semi-quantified simultaneously into concentration ranges. This method takes into full account the respective bioavailabilities of the metals and their interactions when in solution, unlike conventional analytical measurements.
In this respect, the Biometox bacterial sensors have a sensitivity to mercury which is much higher (detection limit 50pM=10ng/L) than more common physico-chemical methods. To complement these innovative biological methods, the Metox index is measured in parallel using the TEF Metox 1975 OJ 92 method.