Abstract
This study compared the growth of the microalgae Scenedesmus dimorphus in synthetic wastewater and actual wastewater under different cultivation conditions, in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus availability, wastewater quality, light condition and CO2 addition. The results show that the form of nitrogen source had a significant effect on the growth of microalgae. Urea as a nitrogen source increased the growth rate of S. dimorphus significantly, while the high concentration of inorganic nitrogen inhibited the growth. When phosphate was 4 mg/L and pH was 7, the growth of S. dimorphus was the greatest. The bacteria in actual wastewater not only promote the growth of microalgae but also facilitate the formation of flocs, which is conducive to biomass harvest. With the increase in light intensity and light duration, S. dimorphus showed primarily an increasing and then a decreasing trend. Higher light intensity was required in actual wastewater than in synthetic wastewater, which may be due to the barrier effect of wastewater turbidity. S. dimorphus grew well in both kinds of wastewater with the addition of 2% CO2.
Highlights
Water scarcity and environmental degradation have caused widespread concern about wastewater treatment and disposal worldwide
Different forms of nitrogen source had a significant effect on the growth of microalgae according to OD680 (p = 9.59 × 10−6) and chlorophyll a content (p = 1.31 × 10−8)
The growth rate of S. dimorphus increased significantly when urea was used as a nitrogen source, while there was no significant difference in microalgal growth between the two inorganic nitrogen sources
Summary
Water scarcity and environmental degradation have caused widespread concern about wastewater treatment and disposal worldwide. Microalgae can utilize carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus as the main nutrients to maintain their growth [4]. Compared with the traditional biological treatment process, the microalgae treatment process can reduce the concentration of organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals, and other substances in wastewater [5,6,7]. The microalgae biomass cultured in wastewater can be converted into animal feed [9], biodiesel [10,11], biological fertilizer [12], and other substances [13,14] for resource utilization. The application of microalgae in wastewater treatment can achieve the removal of nutrients and recover biomass for resource utilization, which has promising application prospects in the future
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