Responses of Chlorella vulgaris to the native bacteria in real wastewater: Improvement in wastewater treatment and lipid production

Abstract

Alga–bacterium interaction can improve wastewater treatment efficiency. To unravel the mystery of the interaction between microalgae and bacteria in wastewater, mono-cultures and co-cultures of Chlorella vulgaris and native bacteria in pretreated biochemical wastewater from landfill leachate were investigated. The results showed that the microalgae selected dominant commensal bacteria, creating a further reduction in species richness for the co-culture, which in turn aids in the dominant commensal bacteria's survival, thereby enhancing algal and bacterial metabolic activity. Strikingly, the lipid productivity of Chlorella in co-culture — namely 41.5 mg/L·d — was 1.4 times higher than in algal monoculture. Additionally, pollutant removal was enhanced in co-cultures, attributed to the bacterial community associated with pollutants' degradation. Furthermore, this study provides an important advance towards observations on the migration and transformation pathways of nutrients and metals, and bridges the gap in algal–bacterial synergistic mechanisms in real wastewater, laying the theoretical foundation for improving wastewater treatment.