Wastewater Nutrients Removal by Chlorella Vulgaris: Optimization Through Acclimation

Abstract The present study aimed to determine the effects of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) concentrations (0, 0.1, 1, 5, 10 mg·L− 1) on tetracycline (TC) and biogas slurry nutrients removal by microalgae Chlorella vulgaris cultivation. Treatments with 1 mg·L− 1 MWCNTs yielded maximum dry weight and cells quantity of 0.81 ± 0.008 g·L− 1 and 5.83×107 cell·L− 1, respectively. The results of chlorophyll a were consistent with rapid fluorescence induction kinetics (OJIP-test), indicating that moderate MWCNTs concentration could enhance microalgal photosynthesis. Maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), tetracycline (TC), and CO2 removal efficiencies were 90.43 ± 5.15%, 78.12 ± 4.33%, 77.07 ± 4.12%, 89.64 ± 3.08%, and 64.26 ± 0.71%, respectively when treated with 1 mg·L− 1 MWCNTs. Of the five MWCNTs concentrations set in this study, the optimal concentration was 1 mg·L− 1 for nutrient and CO2 removal efficiencies. These results indicated that moderate MWCNTs concentrations would promote tetracycline and nutrients removal by enhancing Chlorella vulgaris photosynthesis activity.

Download Full-text

Immobilized Microalgae using Alginate for Wastewater Treatment

Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology ◽

10.47836/pjst.29.3.34 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Amanatuzzakiah Abdul Halim ◽

Wan Nor Atikah Wan Haron

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Chlorella Vulgaris ◽

Immobilized Cells ◽

High Energy ◽

Phosphate Removal ◽

Synthetic Wastewater ◽

Nutrients Removal ◽

Removal Rates ◽

Inorganic Substances ◽

Suspended Cells

Organic and inorganic substances are released into the environment because of domestic, agricultural, and industrial activities which contribute to the pollution of water bodies. Removal of these substances from wastewater using conventional treatment involves high energy cost for mechanical aeration to provide oxygen for aerobic digestion system. During this process, the aerobic bacteria rapidly consume the organic matter and convert it into single cell proteins, water, and carbon dioxide. Alternatively, this biological treatment step can be accomplished by growing microalgae in the wastewater. Chlorella vulgaris immobilized in calcium alginate was used to study the removal efficiency of main nutrients in wastewater such as ammonium and phosphate that act as an important factor in microalgae growth. The immobilized cells demonstrated higher percentage of ammonium and phosphate removal of 83% and 79% respectively, compared to free-suspended cells (76% and 56%). COD removal recorded was 89% and 83% for immobilized cells and free-suspended cells, respectively. The kinetics parameters of nutrients removal for immobilized C. vulgaris in synthetic wastewater were also determined. The specific ammonium removal rates (RA) and phosphate removal rates (RP) for Chlorella vulgaris in synthetic wastewater were 8.3 mg.L-1day-1 and 7.9 mg.L-1day-1, respectively. On the other hand, the kinetic coefficient for each nutrient removal determined were kA = 0.0462 L.mg-1 day-1 NH4 and kP = 0.0352 L.mg-1 day-1 PO43-. This study proves the application of immobilized microalgae cells is advantageous to the wastewater treatment efficiency. Furthermore, optimization on the immobilization process can be conducted to further improve the nutrients removal rates which potentially can be applied in the large-scale wastewater treatment process.

Download Full-text

Effect of Synthetic Wastewater by Electrochemical Pretreatment on Chlorella vulgaris Growth and Nutrients Removal

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.666.33 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 666 ◽

pp. 33-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Meng Zi Wang ◽

Zhi Wei Zhu ◽

Wei Cao ◽

Hong De Zhou ◽

Yu Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chlorella Vulgaris ◽

Biological Treatment ◽

Dry Weight ◽

Synthetic Wastewater ◽

Biomass Growth ◽

Nutrients Removal ◽

Microalgae Cultivation ◽

Electrochemical Processing ◽

Electrochemical Pretreatment ◽

Organic Wastewater

Electrochemical processing combined with the system of microalgaeChlorella vulgariswas used to treat the synthetic organic wastewater in this paper. The effect of wastewater concentration on the biomass growth and nutrients removal was investigated. Three levels of the wastewater concentrations were ranked as Low, Mid and High, respectively. After 2 h of electrolysis pretreatment and 10 d of microalgae cultivation, TOC, NH4-N, and TP concentrations in the group Low were reduced by 83.7%, 99.3% and 95.0%, respectively. TheChlorella vulgarisin the groups Mid and High without electrolysis pretreatment did not survive longer than 24 h, whereas it grown well in the wastewater pretreated by electrolysis. The dry weight (DW) ofChlorella vulgarisin the group Low with electrolysis pretreatment was increased from 0.048 g/l to 1.087 g/l by 10 d cultivation. Results indicate that electrolysis pretreatment for wastewater can provide appropriate conditions for the subsequent biological treatment and efficiently promote the biomass growth ofChlorella vulgaris.

Download Full-text

Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in a pilot-scale photobioreactor using real centrate wastewater with waste glycerol for improving microalgae biomass production and wastewater nutrients removal

Bioresource Technology ◽

10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.040 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 245 ◽

pp. 1130-1138 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Hongyan Ren ◽

Jinhua Tuo ◽

Min M. Addy ◽

Renchuan Zhang ◽

Qian Lu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biomass Production ◽

Chlorella Vulgaris ◽

Pilot Scale ◽

Nutrients Removal ◽

Waste Glycerol ◽

Microalgae Biomass

Download Full-text

Evaluation of nutrients removal (NO3-N, NH3-N and PO4-P) with Chlorella vulgaris, Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus cereus and a consortium of these microorganisms in the treatment of wastewater effluents

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2017.175 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 76 (1) ◽

pp. 49-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Abril Gómez-Guzmán ◽

Sergio Jiménez-Magaña ◽

A. Suggey Guerra-Rentería ◽

César Gómez-Hermosillo ◽

F. Javier Parra-Rodríguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Source ◽

Bacillus Cereus ◽

Pseudomonas Putida ◽

Biomass Production ◽

Chlorella Vulgaris ◽

Nutrient Removal ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Physicochemical Characteristics ◽

Nutrients Removal ◽

External Carbon Source

In this research removal of NH3-N, NO3-N and PO4-P nutrients from municipal wastewater was studied, using Chlorella vulgaris, Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus cereus and an artificial consortium of them. The objective is to analyze the performance of these microorganisms and their consortium, which has not been previously studied for nutrient removal in municipal wastewater. A model wastewater was prepared simulating the physicochemical characteristics found at the wastewater plant in Chapala, Mexico. Experiments were carried out without adding an external carbon source. Results indicate that nutrient removal with Chlorella vulgaris was the most efficient with a removal of 24.03% of NO3-N, 80.62% of NH3-N and 4.30% of PO4-P. With Bacillus cereus the results were 8.40% of NO3-N, 28.80% of NH3-N and 3.80% of PO4-P. The removals with Pseudomonas putida were 2.50% of NO3-N, 41.80 of NH3-N and 4.30% of PO4-P. The consortium of Chlorella vulgaris–Bacillus cereus–Pseudomonas putida removed 29.40% of NO3-N, 4.2% of NH3-N and 8.4% of PO4-P. The highest biomass production was with Bacillus cereus (450 mg/l) followed by Pseudomonas putida (444 mg/l), the consortium (205 mg/l) and Chlorella vulgaris (88.9 mg/l). This study highlights the utility of these microorganisms for nutrient removal in wastewater treatments.

Download Full-text