Comparative analysis of biodegradation and characterization study on agal-assisted wastewater treatment in a bubble column photobioreactor

Abstract

In this study, the process of phycoremediation is employed to assess the effect of nutrient degradation on the synthetic agricultural waste water by utilizing three different microalgal strains viz. Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus obliquus and Desmococcous sp., in a bubble column photobioreactor (BC-PBRs). The experimental results showed higher biomass productivity in C. vulgaris than other two strains. NH4N removal rate was 96% in C. vulgaris, while S. obligus and Desmococcus sp. showed removal rate of 98% and 94% respectively. The removal rate of PO4-P in C. vulgaris, S. obligus and Desmococcus sp., was found to be 95%, 97% and 90% respectively. The removal rate of COD and BOD was also found to be high in C. vulgaris with 78% and 65% respectively followed by Desmoccous sp and S. obliquus. The experimental results also demonstrated the higher nutrient removal rate of C. vulgaris and S. obliquss when compared to Desmococcus sp. From SEM micrograph analysis the cell structure after wastewater treatment was found to be better in C. vulgaris than other two species. FTIR spectroscopy consortia showed the peaks of various functional groups in all the three algae which demonstrated the potential of lipid, carbohydrates and protein content which indirectly evaluate the biofuel potential of the three species.