Biosensor-controlled degradation of chlorpyrifos and chlorfenvinfos using a phosphotriesterase-based detoxification column

This works presents the development of a detoxification system based on bacterial phosphotriesterase (PTE) for the degradation of organophosphate (OP) insecticides in water. PTE was immobilised on an activated agarose gel via covalent coupling. Two different OPs were studied, chlorpyrifos and chlorfenvinfos, due to their importance in the field of water policy. The efficiency of insecticide degradation was controlled using a highly sensitive biosensor allowing the detection of OP concentration as low as 0.004 μg L −1. Under optimum conditions, it was shown that a column incorporating 500 IU of PTE was suitable for the detoxification of solutions containing either isolated pesticides or pesticides mixtures, even at concentrations higher than authorized limits. Finally, the method was shown to be adapted to the decontamination of real samples of pesticides with concentrations up to 20 μg L −1.