Purification Effect of Piggery Wastewater with Chlorella pyrenoidosa by Immobilized Biofilm-Attached Culture

Abstract

Piggery wastewater treatment with microalgae is a biological recycling technology. To evaluate the purification effect, this study investigated the treatment of piggery wastewater at different dilution ratios with Chlorella pyrenoidosa by attached cultivation and lipid production of algae cells and explored the tolerance of Chlorella pyrenoidosa to the piggery wastewater, which has high ammonia nitrogen. The piggery wastewater was diluted with purified water 1-, 2-, 5-, and 10-fold in culture media. The removal efficiencies of COD, ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus and the enrichment effect of the heavy metals copper, zinc, and iron were measured. Meanwhile, we investigated the lipid production of Chlorella pyrenoidosa in variously diluted wastewater (1-, 2-, 5-, and 10-fold). It turned out that the purification effects of COD, ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were best when the piggery wastewater was diluted 5-fold, and the removal efficiencies were 86.8%, 94.1%, 85.2%, and 84.3%, respectively. Correspondingly, the lipid content was as high as 32.7%, and the removal efficiencies of the heavy metals copper, zinc, and iron were 72.9%, 70.0%, and 73.0%, respectively. The biomass productivity was 4.21 g·(m2·d)-1 at the end of the experiment. This research makes an effective connection between microalgae and piggery wastewater, which is difficult to purify deeply, and provides a theoretical basis for achieving algal biofuel production and decreasing the cost of wastewater treatment.