Abstract
Microalgae-bacteria consortia have been proposed as alternatives to conventional biological processes to treat different types of wastewaters, including animal slurry. In this work, a microalgae-bacteria consortia (ABACO) model for wastewater treatment is proposed, it being calibrated and validated using pig slurry. The model includes the most relevant features of microalgae, such as light dependence, endogenous respiration, and growth and nutrient consumption as a function of nutrient availability (especially inorganic carbon), in addition to the already reported features of heterotrophic and nitrifying bacteria. The interrelation between the different populations is also included in the model, in addition to the simultaneous release and consumption of the most relevant compounds, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. The implementation of the model has been performed in MATLAB software; the calibration of model parameters was carried out using genetic algorithms. The ABACO model allows one to simulate the dynamics of different components in the system, and the relative proportions of microalgae, heterotrophic bacteria, and nitrifying bacteria. The percentage of each microbial population obtained with the model was confirmed by respirometric techniques. The proposed model is a powerful tool for the development of microalgae-related wastewater treatment processes, both to maximize the production of microalgal biomass and to optimize the wastewater treatment capacity.
Highlights
One of the most critical environmental challenges of the 21st century envisaged by humanity is the expansion of the population, which will result in increased urban wastewater production [1] and large amounts of animal slurry caused by the rise in meat production [2,3]
This section, divided into four parts, presents the results obtained for the joint model of microalgae biomass production combined with pig slurry treatment
The microalgae–bacteria model proposed has demonstrated itself to be a useful tool for understanding the microalgal–bacterial interaction in wastewater treatment
Summary
One of the most critical environmental challenges of the 21st century envisaged by humanity is the expansion of the population, which will result in increased urban wastewater production [1] and large amounts of animal slurry caused by the rise in meat production [2,3]. Microalgae are photosynthetic microorganisms that grow using inorganic carbon (CO2 ) as a carbon source, and light as an energy source. During this growth, microalgae release oxygen which can use by heterotrophic bacteria to oxidate the organic matter present in influent wastewater. Since microalgae–bacteria consortia in wastewater treatment was described in 1953 by [13], multiple microalgae–bacteria models have been described and validated [14,15,16,17] These mathematical models offer great appeal to studying microalgae–bacteria interactions because they can provide useful tools for design and control purposes, in addition to model simulators, which can all lead to an increase the process efficiency [18]
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