Abstract
This study aims at improving the existing algal-based wastewater treatment technologies by overcoming some of the major drawbacks of these systems such as large required land area, culture contamination, and energy-intensive algal harvesting. The experiments were carried out in an open photo-sequencing batch reactor at a laboratory-scale for nearly 2 months. A specific strain ACUS00207 of the aeroterrestrial green microalga Klebsormidium nitens (Kützing) Lokhorst was used. The strain is native to Bulgaria and belongs to a species that has never been used before in suspended growth systems for wastewater treatment for phosphorus removal. The culture of K. nitens showed promising results: phosphorus removal rates ranging from 0.4 to 1 mg total phosphorus L-1 d-1, efficient settling properties, and resistance to culture contamination with native microalgae. On the basis of the observed phosphorus removal mechanism of biologically mediated chemical precipitation/phosphorus precipitation, an innovative working mode of the sequencing batch reactor is suggested for reducing the hydraulic retention time and the required land area.
Highlights
Phosphorus recovery is pertinent to the recent European policies for a circular economies as well as the green deal (COM, )
These two documents stimulate the reduction of the yield of natural resources and encourage the search for methods, means, and partnerships that enable phosphorus recovery from waste
Conventional widespread wastewater treatment technologies for phosphorus removal are based on two main linear methods developed to make the effluent wastewater quality of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) compliant with the requirements of the Council Directive / /EEC ( ): (1) chemical phosphorus removal with metal salts and (2) enhanced biological phosphorus removal using phosphorus accumulating organisms
Summary
Phosphorus recovery is pertinent to the recent European policies for a circular economies as well as the green deal (COM , ). Conventional widespread wastewater treatment technologies for phosphorus removal are based on two main linear methods developed to make the effluent wastewater quality of the WWTP compliant with the requirements of the Council Directive / /EEC ( ): (1) chemical phosphorus removal with metal salts and (2) enhanced biological phosphorus removal using phosphorus accumulating organisms. These technologies either generate huge amounts of chemical sludge, mixed with the biological sludge (chemical methods), or the results from the treatment processes are not consistent enough (biological methods). This results in a very complicated and expensive subsequent phosphorus recovery and complex sludge management (Cuellar-Bermudez et al )
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