ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS.
DEVICE “BIOTOX-10”
Certificate of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Standardization and Metrology (Gosstandart of Russia), No. 9842
Environmental problems caused by the negative impact of humans on the environment are increasingly taking first place in sociological surveys. These problems are associated with such factors as emissions and discharges of pollutants, physical and chemical impacts and biological pollution of the environment.
The environmental legislation of the Russian Federation regulates the quality of the environment in order to establish maximum permissible impact standards that guarantee the environmental safety of the population, the preservation of the gene pool, and ensure the rational use and reproduction of natural resources in the context of sustainable development of economic activity.
A significant part of the environmental quality standards are the maximum permissible concentrations of pollutants in a particular environment.
Also, one of the important concepts in regulation is the concept of toxicity.
By toxicity understand the ability of substances to cause disturbances in the physiological functions of the human body, which in turn leads to diseases (intoxication, poisoning) or, in severe cases, death [2]. In fact, toxicity is a measure of the incompatibility of a substance with human life.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 500 thousand compounds are used in industry and household technology, mainly organic, of which more than 40 thousand are harmful to health, and about 12 thousand are toxic.
In Russia, about 200 different pesticides were used: only a tenth of which were non-toxic. In the Russian Federation, MACs have been established for about 1,400 substances in water, for more than 100 substances in the air, and for more than 100 in soils. Every year, these lists increase by an average of 50 substances.
Under these conditions, the issue of environmental monitoring and control is especially acute.
Environmental monitoring includes three main areas of activity:
- monitoring the factors of influence and the state of the environment;
- assessment of the actual state of the environment;
- forecast of the state of the natural environment and assessment of the predicted state [2].
Environmental monitoring is defined as an activity aimed at compliance with environmental standards and regulations.
One of the areas of environmental analytical monitoring is based on direct determination of the total content of phosphorus-, sulfur-, nitrogen- and halogen-containing organic compounds. For this purpose, in particular, various types of microbial and enzymatic biosensors are used as highly sensitive biotests [1].
A wide range of analyzed substances allows the use of biosensors in primary screening for toxicity of water, air, food products, new chemicals, materials and products.
If a biosensor determines the fact of toxicity, further research is carried out using other physicochemical methods to establish its nature [1].
The Microbics Operations of Beckman Instruments, Inc. (USA) company has developed the “Microtox” (Microtox 5TM) biosensor based on lyophilized marine luminescent bacteria Photobacterium phosphoreum [1].
In our country (Moscow State University, Moscow), the Ecolum biosensor has been developed based on genetic engineering technology. It has a number of advantages over the Microtox biosensor: it does not have such temperature restrictions when taking measurements, it is easier to use, cheaper, and the number of preparatory operations is reduced.
It was the Ecolum biosensor that was used as the basis for the Biotox-10 device (photo 1), which is a joint development of specialists from Laboratory No. 11 of the Electrozavod Chemical Plant and scientists from Moscow State University.
Photo 1. Environmental monitoring device “Biotox-10”
Methodological recommendations for the use of the “Biotox-10” device to determine the toxicity of water and water extracts from environmental objects have been approved by the State Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance of the Russian Federation.
«Biotoks-10» is designed for rapid quantitative monitoring of the degree of integral toxicity of water samples and aqueous extracts from various environmental objects in laboratory conditions for medical, sanitary-hygienic and environmental purposes.
The operation of the Biotoks-10 device is based on recording the weak glow of the biosensor, which manifests itself in the process of bioluminescent reaction to the presence of toxic chemicals in an aqueous solution.
The device can be used in sanitary-hygienic and toxicological laboratories to control the degree of integral toxicity of water intended for the preparation of medical solutions, to assess the toxicity of new drugs, the quality of drinking water, and aqueous extracts from environmental objects.
“Biotox-10” is a modern environmental monitoring device with the following main areas of application:
In industry:
- express toxicity monitoring of waste and discharges from industrial enterprises;
- real-time toxicity monitoring of technological processes.
In ecology:
- periodic analysis of drinking water, reservoirs, soil and air for harmful substances.
In medicine and pharmaceuticals:
- control of possible toxicity of materials and medicines.
In the food industry:
- control of food safety.
“Biotox-10” uses new technologies of environmental monitoring based on the use of highly sensitive specialized microbial sensors “Ekolum”, which react to the presence of toxic substances of various chemical nature in the analyzed samples by changing the intensity of bioluminescence.
The combination of a new biochemical sensor with modern electronic equipment allows detecting extremely small quantities of toxic compounds and their mixtures in various samples. The device operates with high reliability, practically eliminating erroneous conclusions.
In the device “Biotox-10” uses a simple and reliable technology for sampling and presenting samples, which is completely safe for both the operator and the persons and objects undergoing environmental assessment.
Compactness, reliability and ease of use allow the device to be used for both environmental assessment of environmental objects in laboratory and field conditions.
The device calculates maximum and minimum values, average and average statistical errors of the measured parameters of samples, thereby taking into account the activity of the biosensor at the time of laboratory research.
To expand the capabilities of the device, there is an output to the computer via a standard serial port. The convergence and reproducibility of the results of determining the test parameter is not worse than 5%.
Device “Biotox-10” is made as a monoblock for desktop use. The device body is made of impact-resistant, chemically resistant and fire-safe polystyrene.
The front panel of the device contains:
- device power button;
- power LED indicator;
- 16-button control panel;
- LCD display.
The left side panel of the device contains a cuvette compartment and a connector for connecting a computer. The right side panel of the device contains a connector for connecting a network adapter or battery.
Technical specifications of «Biotox-10»
| Zero signal level, imp/s | no more than 200 |
| Pulse count proportionality coefficient | 1.3 – 3.0 |
| Pulse number measurement range, imp/s | 10 – 100000 |
| Limit of permissible value of standard deviation (RMS) when measuring the number of pulses, % | 3 |
| Time to prepare the device for operation after power is applied, minutes | no more than 10 |
| Dimensions of the device, mm | no more than 300x130x60 |
| Weight of the device, kg | no more than 2 |
| The device is powered by: | |
| — via an adapter from an AC network with a voltage of, V |
220 +/-22, 50 Hz |
| — from a battery with a voltage of, V | 12 +/-2 |
| Power consumption of the device, W | no more than 2 |
| Continuous operation time, hours | no less than 8 |
| During operation, the device must be resistant to climatic influences: | |
| — ambient temperature, deg. C | +10 – 35 |
| — air humidity, % | no more than 80 |
| During transportation, the device must be resistant to climatic influences at a temperature, deg. C | -40 – +50 |
| The device in the transport packaging must be resistant to | |
| mechanical impacts: shock loads with a frequency, Hz | 25 |
| — 40 shocks with an amplitude, g | 75 |
| — 400 shocks with an amplitude, g | 15 |
| — 2000 strokes with amplitude, g | 10 |
| Mean time between failures, hours | not less than 2500 |
| Device service life, years | not less than 5 |
The ability of the Biotox-10 device to quickly, effectively and safely provide control over most of both standardized (known) and non-standardized (known and unknown) exotoxicants allows it to be used for environmental monitoring of the environment in various areas of life.
Literature
Description of the Biotox-10 device
Ganshin V.M., Chebyshev A.V., Fesenko A.V.
Integrated systems for monitoring toxicological and environmental safety.
Special equipment, 1998, No. 4-5, p. 2 10.
How to organize public environmental monitoring.
Guide for public organizations.
Edited by PhD Khotuleva M.V..