Filamentous microalgae Tribonema sp. cultivation in the anaerobic/oxic effluents of petrochemical wastewater for evaluating the efficiency of recycling and treatment

Abstract

The filamentous microalgae Tribonema sp. was cultured in the effluents of different stages (the primary clarifier, the anaerobic and the anaerobic/oxic) of the traditional Anaerobic/Oxic (A/O) process for evaluating the recycling and treatment efficiency of the petrochemical wastewater in this paper. It was observed that Tribonema sp. grew in the anaerobic effluent had the ideal growth states and wastewater treatment efficiency. The biomass concentration, the chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total nitrogen (TN) removal rates were 4.4 g/L, 98.4% and 96.8%, respectively, for Tribonema sp. grown in the anaerobic effluent. Moreover, the total phosphorus (TP) and organic contaminants were almost completely removed and the oil content of the microalgae reached the highest (36.1%) in the anaerobic effluent. The filamentous microalgae Tribonema sp. cultivation directly integrated with the treatment of anaerobic effluents is demonstrated as an alternative approach to the traditional oxic stage in the A/O process.