The state-of-the-art in bioluminescent whole-cell biosensor technology for detecting various organic compounds in oil and grease content in wastewater: From the lab to the field

Oil and grease content in wastewater is used as an environmental monitoring parameter in the oil and gas industry to prevent serious pollution. Conventional oil and grease laboratory testing is time-consuming and necessitates the use of a hazardous chemical solvent, resulting in non-real-time test data and unnecessary chemical waste. On-site or real-time analysis can enable monitoring of oil and grease in wastewater before discharge to the environment from an operating plant, allowing immediate action to be taken to mitigate environmental impact before contamination spirals out of control. Bioluminescent whole-cell biosensors have been reported to have high sensitivity and selectivity in environmental samples, but only for a few traces of organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatics and naphthalene, allowing for faster analysis times. However, no evaluation of biosensor application for oil and grease (a mixture of hydrocarbons) detection in wastewater, which is critical in the oil and gas industry, has been published to date. Herein, the advantages, disadvantages, challenges, and limitations of using a whole-cell bioluminescent biosensor technology to measure oil and grease content in wastewater are carefully reviewed. This review attempts to bridge the knowledge gap between conventional laboratory methods and biosensor technology in terms of analytical challenges, identifying areas for improvement as well as real-world applications for oil and grease content detection in wastewater.