Abstract
Recently, mass production of lipid along with heavy metal reduction is gaining momentum due to their cost-effective and greener approach towards waste water treatment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the small scale photo bioreactor treatment of tannery effluent using Chlorella sp. isolated form Yercaud lake, Tamil Nadu, India. The results showed a significant decrease in the heavy metals content in the tannery effluent after the treatment. Maximum reduction of the heavy metal Chromium (Cr) of 10.92 mg L−1 was recorded, followed by Cobalt (Co)-7.37 mg L−1, Nickel (Ni)-9.15 mg L−1, Cadmium (Cd)-8.48 mg L−1, Lead (Pb)-12.54 mg L−1, Zinc (Zn)-11.56 mg L−1 and Copper (Cu)-10.71 mg L−1 at the end of the 20th day of treatment. The microalgae, Chlorella sp. was analyzed for their biosorption ability and the maximum biosorption capacity (qmax) rate against heavy metals was 81.36, 70.53, 82.15, 63.29, 58.92, 83.43, 64.83 µg L−1 for Cr, Pb, Ni, Cd, Co, Zn, and Cu respectively. It matched with the Langmuir and Freundlich kinetics models. The maximum CO2 utilization was found to be 60.50% and maximum concentration of lipid, carbohydrate and protein was found to be 0.95 g L−1, 250 µg mL−1 and 160 µg mL−1, respectively. The presence of various groups such as hydroxyl, alkyl, carbonyl and carboxylic acids was confirmed using Fourier transform infrared analysis. Thus, the isolated microalgae showed good biosorption ability towards the various heavy metal pollutants from tannery waste water.
Highlights
Water is one of the most crucial natural resources
The present study aims to investigate the production of biomass from the potential microalgae, Chlorella sp. along with its capacity to sequestrate C O2 and remove heavy metals from tannery effluent with 90% of concentration adaptation
The pure form of microalgal strain was identified as Chlorella sp. based on the morphological characteristic features such as spherical shape with size ranging from 2 to 10 μm in diameter, green photosynthetic pigments without flagella (Supplementary 1)
Summary
Water is one of the most crucial natural resources. Owing to the increasing population, urbanization, industrialization and worldwide mobility, the quality of water is deteriorating, leading to an inadequate supply of uncontaminated water, especially in developing countries. Most of the wastewater generated from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources is contaminated with both organic and inorganic pollutants comprising of a variety of heavy meals, plastic based components and high concentration nitrates, sulfates, Findings from the earlier studies show that the utilization of microalgae for the treatment of wastewaters is effective,. Applied Water Science (2021) 11:108 safe and aids in removal of various toxic chemicals at a reduced cost. Similar research involving removal of heavy metals and toxic pollutants has been studied by different researchers. Their effluent treatment using microalgae offers good results, and can be used as an alternative treatment technology
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