Study of Microcystis aeruginosa inhibition by electrochemical method

Abstract

In recent years, algal blooms as a result of abnormal algae growth have been found accelerated eutrophication, being the source reason of producing odor and being obstacles of water purification systems. In order to control water quality and minimize the threat, the treatment of Microcystis aeruginosa ( M. aeruginosa) by electrochemical method was investigated in this paper. Experiments were conducted to examine the effect of the operating conditions, such as different electrodes materials, current density and agitation on inhibition ratio of algae. The electrolysis was found to be quite effective for inhibiting M. aeruginosa and the results show that the higher current density could effectively improve the inhibition. The inhibition ratio of 91.51% could be obtained at current density of 12 mA cm −2. In addition, the changes of UV–vis spectra and fluorescence emission spectra further demonstrated the inhibitive behaviors of electrolysis on the growth of M. aeruginosa.