Abstract
The nutrient removal efficiency of Chlorella vulgaris cultivated in domestic wastewater was investigated, along with the potential to use membrane filtration as a pre-treatment tool during the wastewater treatment process. Chlorella vulgaris was batch cultivated for 12 days in a bubble column system with two different wastewater treatments. Maximum uptake of 94.18% ammonium (NH4-N) and 97.69% ortho-phosphate (PO4-P) occurred in 0.2 μm membrane filtered primary wastewater. Membrane filtration enhanced the nutrient uptake performance of C. vulgaris by removing bacteria, protozoa, colloidal particles and suspended solids, thereby improving light availability for photosynthesis. The results of this study suggest that growing C. vulgaris in nutrient rich membrane filtered wastewater provides an option for domestic wastewater treatment to improve the quality of the final effluent.
Highlights
IntroductionThe exponentially increasing human population has led to intense consumption of freshwater through domestic, agricultural and industrial uses, generating large volumes of wastewater [1]
The exponentially increasing human population has led to intense consumption of freshwater through domestic, agricultural and industrial uses, generating large volumes of wastewater [1].A total of 66% of the world’s population is predicted to live in urban areas by 2050 [2]; this will place increased pressure on the finite freshwater resource and requires efficient domestic wastewater management to keep up with demand, whilst mitigating the global environmental phenomenon: eutrophication [3,4]
C. vulgaris underwent a stationary phase beyond day 9
Summary
The exponentially increasing human population has led to intense consumption of freshwater through domestic, agricultural and industrial uses, generating large volumes of wastewater [1]. A total of 66% of the world’s population is predicted to live in urban areas by 2050 [2]; this will place increased pressure on the finite freshwater resource and requires efficient domestic wastewater management to keep up with demand, whilst mitigating the global environmental phenomenon: eutrophication [3,4]. Issues include: high energy consumption, in biological treatment of domestic wastewater and the use of chemicals to control high nutrient effluent levels which have economic and environmental costs [5]. The main objective of domestic wastewater treatment is to remove or decrease: (1) harmful levels of microbes (e.g., pathogenic coliform bacteria, protozoa, viruses and parasitic worm eggs), (2) biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), (3) pollutant levels of nutrients (e.g., nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)), (4) heavy metals (e.g., zinc, copper, mercury, lead, aluminium) and (5) solid material [8,9]
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