Phycoremediation and biomass production from high strong swine wastewater for biogas generation improvement: An integrated bioprocess

Abstract

This study investigated the phycoremediation process from swine digestate integrated with photosynthetic biomass and biogas production in the context of circular economy. Effects of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) and pH on biomass productivity and nutrients removal, using a central rotational composite design, were evaluated. pH showed a significant effect on biomass productivity and phosphate removal. The strain Chlorella sorokiniana (LBA#39) was able to tolerate up to 1300 mg TAN L-1 at neutral pH, with maximum biomass productivity of 198 mg DW L-1 d-1 and removal of 90 and 70 (%) of phosphate and nitrogen, respectively. The biomass harvested after phycoremediation from digestate showed high content of volatile solids (95.4%) and proteins (59.5%). Biochemical methane potential (BMP) from microalgae monodigestion was 292 ± 10 mLNCH4 gVSadd-1. The use microalgae biomass addition in the biodigestion process increased up to 32.1% in biogas production. It is an attractive approach to integrating raw materials into existing agro-industrial facilities and improving biogas production, adopting the concept of circular economy and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.