Wastewater Resource Research Articles

Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in Membrane-Treated Industrial Distillery Wastewater: Growth and Wastewater Treatment

The alcohol industry discharges large quantities of wastewater, which is hazardous and has a considerable pollution potential. Cultivating microalgae in wastewater is an alternative way of overcoming the current high cost of microalgae cultivation and an environmentally friendly treatment method for industrial effluents. The study analyzed the growth and biochemical composition of Chlorella vulgaris cultivated in membrane-treated distillery wastewater (MTDW) and nutrients removal efficiency. The results showed biomass productivity of 0.04 g L−1 d−1 for MTDW with the contents of content of protein, carbohydrate, and lipid at 49.6 ± 1.4%, 26.1 ± 0.6%, and 10.4 ± 1.8%, respectively. The removal efficiencies of TN, TP, and COD were 80, 94, and 72.24% in MTDW, respectively. In addition, removal efficiencies of 100, 85.37, and 42.86% for Ca2+, Mg2+, and Mo2− were achieved, respectively. The study added to our growing knowledge on the cultivation of Chlorella with wastewater, suggesting that it was feasible to cultivate Chlorella with MTDW and represented an economical and environmentally friendly strategy for microalgae biomass production and reuse of wastewater resources.

Reuse of wastewaters in irrigation of broad bean and their effect on plant-aphid interaction

Response of faba bean to irrigation with wastewater obtained from different wastewater treatment plants along with the combined effect of wastewater and aphids on plant growth and aphid fitness were evaluated under greenhouse conditions. Results indicated that the pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, and macro-elements were varied widely among wastewater resources and were higher than that of tap water. Seed germination percent did not significantly affect by wastewater, but germination index was considerably influenced by some types of wastewaters. Plant growth was reduced by irrigation with Wadi Hassan wastewater and Zarqa river. Leaf macro-elements greatly varied between treatments. Aphid infestation reduced plant growth compared to the control. Plants treated with wastewater enhanced the abundance of aphids at different magnitudes, while plant growth was equal and/or better than that of infested control plants. We conclude that the properly treated wastewater was not only as effective as fresh water in enhancing the plant growth, but also mitigated the adverse consequence of high infestation level of aphids on the plant.

Membrane science emerging as a convergent scientific field with molecular origins and understanding, and global impact

Membrane separations science concerns the selective transport of chemical species across molecularly designed barriers that are effectively two-dimensional. This interdisciplinary field has become the focus of many scientific communities in recent years, including researchers in supramolecular chemistry, materials science, environmental science, polymer science (chemistry and physics), colloid and interface science, nanofluidics, structural biology, and biophysics. The great attraction of membrane science is the connection and visibility of the broad impacts of the final application, which is even apparent while working at the smallest scales. The “big picture” challenges that membrane science seeks to address include water purification, wastewater treatment, desalination, carbon dioxide capture, food and dairy processing, removal of pathogens (including viruses), hydrocarbon processing, and resource recovery from wastes, among a wide variety of applications. These topics span many urgent societally relevant themes of clean water and air, public health, climate change, waste minimization, and energy production. The assembled special issue of PNAS illustrates the convergence emerging in the field across scales (from molecular self-assembly to industrial scale separations), disciplines (from biophysics to industrial scale hydrocarbon separations), materials (from membrane proteins to graphene), and approaches (molecular analysis to economic analysis). The issue also highlights emerging areas of interest, including biomimetics, ion–ion separations, membrane process residuals (brine) treatment, hydrocarbon separations using membranes, and technologies for wastewater resource recovery. The papers are organized by applications, and within each application area by scale and approach. In general, this special issue is roughly divided into three main sections: biologically inspired ideas and applications to separation processes in aqueous liquids, gas and hydrocarbon separations, and improving current membranes and membrane processes. The first section of this special issue is on biologically inspired ideas for designing more selective and energy-efficient membranes. A unique feature of biological membranes is the exceptional ion selectivity seen in membrane proteins … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: manish.kumar{at}utexas.edu or hastone{at}Princeton.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Purple non-sulfur bacteria technology: a promising and potential approach for wastewater treatment and bioresources recovery

Shortage of water, energy, and bioresources in the world has led to the exploration of new technologies that achieve resource recovery from wastewater, which has become a new sustainable trend. Photosynthetic non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB), the most ancient photo microorganism, not only treats different wastewater types, but also generates PNSB cells, which are non-toxic bioresources and containing many value-added products. These bioresources can be used as raw materials in the agricultural, food, and medical industries. Therefore, PNSB or PNSB-based wastewater resource recovery technology can be simultaneously used to treat wastewater and produce useful bioresources. Compared with traditional wastewater treatment, this technology can reduce CO2 emissions, promote the N recovery ratio and prevent residual sludge disposal or generation. After being developed for over half a century, PNSB wastewater resource recovery technology is currently extended towards industrial applications. Here, this technology is comprehensively introduced in terms of (1) PNSB characteristics and metabolism; (2) PNSB wastewater treatment and bioresource recovery efficiency; (3) the relative factors influencing the performance of this technology, including light, oxygen, strains, wastewater types, hydraulic retention time, on wastewater treatment, and resource production; (4) PNSB value-added bioresources and their generation from wastewater; (5) the scale-up history of PNSB technology; (6) Finally, the future perspectives and challenges of this technology were also analysed and summarised.

In-building heat recovery mitigates adverse temperature effects on biological wastewater treatment: A network-scale analysis of thermal-hydraulics in sewers

Heat recovery from wastewater is a robust and straightforward strategy to reduce water-related energy consumption. Its implementation, though, requires a careful assessment of its impacts across the entire wastewater system as adverse effects on the water and resource recovery facility and competition among heat recovery strategies may arise.A model-based assessment of heat recovery from wastewater therefore implies extending the modeling spatial scope, with the aim of enabling thermal-hydraulic simulations from the household tap along its entire flow path down to the wastewater resource recovery facility. With this aim in mind, we propose a new modeling framework interfacing thermal-hydraulic simulations of (i) households, (ii) private lateral connections, and (iii) the main public sewer network.Applying this framework to analyze the fate of wastewater heat budgets in a Swiss catchment, we find that heat losses in lateral connections are large and cannot be overlooked in any thermal-hydraulic analysis, due to the high-temperature, low-flow wastewater characteristics maximizing heat losses to the environment. Further, we find that implementing shower drain heat recovery devices in 50% of the catchment's households lower the wastewater temperature at the recovery facility significantly less – only 0.3 K – than centralized in-sewer heat recovery, due to a significant thermal damping effect induced by lateral connections and secondary sewer lines. In-building technologies are thus less likely to adversely affect biological wastewater treatment processes.The proposed open-source modeling framework can be applied to any other catchment. We thereby hope to enable more efficient heat recovery strategies, maximizing energy harvesting while minimising impacts on biological wastewater treatment.

Long-Term Irrigation with Treated Municipal Wastewater from the Wadi-Musa Region: Soil Heavy Metal Accumulation, Uptake and Partitioning in Olive Trees

Utilization of treated wastewater (TWW) for agricultural purposes has grown over the past few years because of limited available water resources. This study was performed to assess the long-term irrigation of treated wastewater from the Wadi-Musa region on the accumulation of heavy metals in soil and their uptake and translocation to various parts of olive trees. Fifteen year old trees that had been grown and irrigated with treated wastewater resources since their establishment were used in this study. Irrigation water, soil, and plant samples (root, stem bark, leaves, fruits) were collected and chemically analyzed for their heavy metal content. Accumulation of heavy metals in irrigation water and soil were found to be within the acceptable range for the safe use of treated wastewater according to the standards of the WHO. However, long-term and continuous irrigation with TWW resulted in significant accumulation of heavy metals in plant parts when compared to their levels in irrigation water and soil. Uptake of metals was consistent among plant parts with the highest concentrations for Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn, and the lowest concentrations for Ni, Cr and Cd. Assessment of the bioaccumulation factor (BFC) and translocation factors (TF) of heavy metals into different plant parts indicated selective absorption and partitioning of these heavy metals into different plant parts. High BCF values were observed for Fe, Cu and Ni in roots and fruits, and Fe, Mn, Cd and Pb in leaves. Translocation factors of metal ions were variable among plant parts. Fruits had the highest TF for Cu, Cd and Zn metals, and the lowest for Mn and Fe, while leaves have the highest TF for Fe, Zn and Mn and the lowest for Cd and Pb. The results of this study indicate that olive trees are heavy metal accumulators, caution should be considered in long-term use of TWW and periodic assessment of possible hazards, especially on fruits and oil quality is required.

An analytical study on municipal wastewater to energy generation, current trends, and future prospects in South Asian developing countries (an update on Pakistan scenario).

The water scarcity and energy crises are major challenges, particularly for South Asian developing countries. Wastewater resource recovery always remained an untapped potential for South Asian countries, especially in Pakistan. Globally, municipal wastewater's global generation rate is about 331 km3/year; only a small proportion is treated and safely reused. Wastewater also has high energy content and can be greatly productive, whereas most of the wastewater treatment plants currently employed in developing regions are non-functional or taking high energy inputs. Many global level studies are being conducted for energy use reduction and the production of renewable energy from wastewater. In this review, installation of wastewater treatment plants is suggested in the context of economic and environmental feasibility for South Asian developing countries. Multiple factors showed the need for and high potential to installation of wastewater treatment plants for providing clean water under sustainable development goals and further to recover valuable contents from municipal wastewater. The tremendous need for infrastructure development became obvious to deliver clean water to communities that are using wastewater directly or indirectly for various purposes. Based on technical grounds, economic, social, and environmental challenges can be tackled with viable wastewater treatment plant design options in each country context. With each step of wastewater treatment, control strategies would minimize energy use and enhanced resource recovery will reduce pressure on the current natural resource base. Overall, the cost assessment, funding opportunities, research and development, and social acceptability remained the big factors to energy generation from municipal wastewater in South Asia. Graphical presentation of the study.

Evaluation of the effect of carbamazepine on the concentration of vitellogenin in Pseudoplatystoma magdaleniatum

Abstract Carbamazepine is a pharmaceutical used in patients with seizures and bipolar disorder, which has been found in wastewater and many water resources. This is due to the inadequate disposal of pharmaceutical waste and the lack of treatment of municipal wastewater, as is the case in Colombia. The two main hydrographic basins of Colombia are the Cauca and Magdalena rivers, which are inhabited by the endemic species Striped Catfish (Pseudoplatystoma magdaleniatum). This has become an endangered species for various reasons, including the high contamination level of these rivers. In 2019, mature adult P. magdaleniatum of both sexes were caught in the Cauca river in Colombia. This was in order to assess the concentration of vitellogenin, as a biomarker of endocrine disruption, resulting from exposure to different levels of concentration of the emerging contaminant carbamazepine for 4 months. These tests were carried out in a fish farm. A significant decrease in the vitellogenin concentration was verified in females at concentrations of 25 µg l-1 and 50 µg l-1, and in males at 50 µg l-1 of carbamazepine, with a significance level of p˂0.05. Carbamazepine could cause a negative feedback in gonadotropin secretion, acting as an estrogen mimicker that causes a decrease in the level of vitellogenin.

Valorization of Wastewater Resources Into Biofuel and Value-Added Products Using Microalgal System

Wastewater is not a liability, instead considered as a resource for microbial fermentation and value-added products. Most of the wastewater contains various nutrients like nitrates and phosphates apart from the organic constituents that favor microbial growth. Microalgae are unicellular aquatic organisms and are widely used for wastewater treatment. Various cultivation methods such as open, closed, and integrated have been reported for microalgal cultivation to treat wastewater and resource recovery simultaneously. Microalgal growth is affected by various factors such as sunlight, temperature, pH, and nutrients that affect the growth rate of microalgae. Microalgae can consume urea, phosphates, and metals such as magnesium, zinc, lead, cadmium, arsenic, etc. for their growth and reduces the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). The microalgal biomass produced during the wastewater treatment can be further used to produce carbon-neutral products such as biofuel, feed, bio-fertilizer, bioplastic, and exopolysaccharides. Integration of wastewater treatment with microalgal bio-refinery not only solves the wastewater treatment problem but also generates revenue and supports a sustainable and circular bio-economy. The present review will highlight the current and advanced methods used to integrate microalgae for the complete reclamation of nutrients from industrial wastewater sources and their utilization for value-added compound production. Furthermore, pertaining challenges are briefly discussed along with the techno-economic analysis of current pilot-scale projects worldwide.

Environmental assessment of urine, black and grey water separation for resource recovery in a new district compared to centralized wastewater resources recovery plant

Current trends show that wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) will intend to shift towards water resources recovery facility (WRRF), however nutrients recovery in WRRF is limited by the need of highly concentrated stream for the process. Source separation can help to increase this potential, but assessment is necessary to evaluate the whole system at district scale. In this study three scenarios based respectively on urine diversion, blackwater and greywater separation were compared to the conventional end-of-pipe strategy with adjunction of treatment at the centralized WRRF for producing renewable fertilizers and energy. Life cycle assessment was used to compare environmental impacts. The study was performed to represent the implementation of a new district in an urban context. Treatments have been chosen among the best technologies available for resource recovery. Results show that for maximizing nutrients recovery and limiting the greenhouse gas emissions, urine and blackwater separation are better scenarios than conventional mixing option and centralized WRRF. Indeed it allows to mitigate by at least 60% the nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and to avoid nitrogen fertilizer production which emits large amount of greenhouse gases (8.6 kg CO2-Eq/kgN). Urine source separation is particularly beneficial by recovering nitrogen at a low environmental footprint: impact on climate change decreases by 45% compared to the Reference. The separation of blackwater treated at decentralized scale shows a decrease of 34% of impact on climate change compared to Reference, thus a little worse than Urine due to a higher external energy demand at decentralized scale for nitrogen recovery. Phosphorus can be recovered in all the source separation system without additional climate change impact. If the priority is given at water reclamation the treatment of blackwater and greywater separately is a valuable option. However energy balance and greenhouse gases emissions analysis do not support this scenario if highly energy consuming technology is used for greywater treatment (more than 0.56 kWh/m3 treated). It would become acceptable in case of decarbonized energy or if tap water production is a high greenhouse gases emitter.

Effective degradation of atrazine in wastewater by three-dimensional electrochemical system using fly ash-red mud particle electrode: Mechanism and pathway

Recycling of fly ash (FA) and red mud (RM) is one of the most environmental challenges. In this study, the catalytic performance of fly ash-red mud particle electrodes (FRPEs), which were prepared with FA and RM under different ratios, were applied in three-dimensional electrochemical system (3DES) for wastewater treatment. Different ratios, cell voltage, initial pH and FRPEs dosage on the degradation of Atrazine (ATZ) were investigated. As a result, 90.1% of degradation rate toward ATZ was achieved as followed the optimal conditions: fly ash: red mud = 3:4, FRPEs dosage 100 g/L, cell voltage 5 V, initial pH 6.8 and treatment for 30 min. Additionally, FRPEs still maintained the high activity after 7 recycles, proving the stability and recyclability of the FRPEs in 3DES. The possible reaction mechanism of 3DES and the degradation pathway for ATZ were also proposed via controlling and free radical quenching experiments. The results indicated that ·OH is the main active free radical to degrade ATZ and the process mainly occurs on the surface of FRPEs. This research provides a new strategy for wastewater resources utilization of fly ash-red mud and broad prospect for the applications of 3DES.

Fabrication of ordered mesoporous POMs/SiO2–NH2 nanofibers for production of DFF from 5-HMF for cellulose wastewater resource recovery

5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) is a biomass cellulose platform product that can be transformed into the valuable resource 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF). Polyoxometalates (POMs) have important applications in resource recovery technologies and cellulose wastewater treatment. Ordered mesoporous H5PMo10V2O40/SiO2–NH2 (wt%) nanofibers (HPMoV/meso-SiO2-NH2 (wt%)) were synthesized by the combining in-situ fabrication and electrospinning techniques, using H5PMo10V2O40 (HPMoV) and organic-silica as precursors. Aiming the recovery and transformation of 5-HMF, aerobic oxidation of 5-HMF was explored using these nanofibers as catalysts, while the best yield of DFF (90.0%) was obtained upon HPMoV/meso-SiO2-NH2 (23%) nanofibers after 8 h at 120 °C using oxygen (1.0 MPa). The selectivity to DFF was improved by changing the hydrophilicity of the HPMoV@SiO2 nanofibers to hydrophobicity by modifying SiO2 nanofibers with –NH2R compared to mesoporous SiO2 nanofibers, which allowed the formed DFF to be isolated. In the recycling test, HPMoV@SiO2–NH2 showed good performance, and no leaching of active sites from SiO2–NH2 due to the interactions between them occurred after 10 cycles. The production of DFF from the real cellulosic wastewater was obtained with 118% yield based on 5-HMF conversion by HPMoV/meso-SiO2-NH2 (23) and oxygen, which was contributed to the one-pot conversion of sugar, furan and 5-HMF in the wastewater.

Barriers in Implementation of Wastewater Reuse: Identifying the Way Forward in Closing the Loop

The business case for circular economy in water management perspective has gain relevance in the recent times. By 2030, it is estimated that 160% of global total available water will be required to satisfy demand of anthropogenic-related activities and increasing waste-related water will be produced. Gaps on the conceptual framing of water reuse within supply chain management are clearly emerging and the demand for decision support systems helping at assessing effective water consumption in industrial setting is pressing. Despite the numerous local initiatives towards wastewater resource usage, barriers remain for its implementation in practice. Through a systematic review of previous studies in this field, the barriers towards the uptake of wastewater use in agriculture were classified according to the PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal) framework. Alongside political and legal support, it is identified that for an economically and environmentally sustainable scheme for incentivising the deployment of feasible technologies, there is also a need to gain acceptance for wastewater usage in society in order to enhance the deployment of existing technological solutions. Addressing these factors in tandem can aid the development towards a circular economy for wastewater.

Temperature analysis of a novel MAIB reactor during the treatment of wastewater from recycled paper mill

Abstract Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an essential technology for wastewater management, resource recovery and biogas production, and it is considered as an efficient and reliable treatment method for many wastewaters. Operating parameters have been shown to directly affect the stability and treatment performance of AD, especially temperature. For 180 days, the AD of recycled paper mill wastewater (RPMW) was carried out in a modified anaerobic inclining-baffled (MAIB) reactor under various temperature conditions, i.e. 29 °C (low mesophilic), 37 °C (mesophilic) and 55 °C (thermophilic). It was found that total COD removal of 94, 96 and 76%, and methane yields of 0.125, 0.196 and 0.256 L CH4/g CODremoved were attained at temperatures of 29, 37 and 55 °C, respectively. Throughout the three transition periods, the pH level in the MAIB reactor fluctuated slightly within the range of 5.8–6.5 without affecting the system stability. The results concluded that thermophilic condition strongly influenced the MAIB reactor performance, leading to lower COD removal, higher methane yield and gradually recovered pH level.

In Vivo Evaluation of Oxygenic Photogranules’ Photosynthetic Capacity by Pulse Amplitude Modulation and Phototrophic–Irradiance Curves

The commingled microbial moiety of oxygenic photogranules (OPGs) facilitates aeration-free wastewater treatment. Embedded in an extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) matrix, microbial producers and consumers of oxygen occupying granular niches exchange substrates among themselves and with the bulk fluid. An assessment of the OPG’s phototrophic potential or functional capacity may require combining different photoactivity signals. The photosynthetic capacity was evaluated using photosynthetic oxygen evolution (POE) and chlorophyll fluorescence (rapid light curves, RLC) measurements using OPGs grown at different light intensities.. A maximum oxygen generating capacity for optimal OPGs and reactor conditions was determined to be 284.4 mgO2 gVSS–1 h–1 The OPGs exhibited photoelasticity, with higher photosynthetic capacity in high light (HL) compared to that in low light (LL) adapted samples. Saturation irradiances before the onset of photoinhibition for LL and HL samples were 1000 and 1200 μmol m–2 s–1, respectively using POE signals, and 478 μmol m–2 s–1 and 611 μmol m–2 s–1 using RLC signals. Moreover, HL adapted samples had higher nonphotochemical quenching rates which allude to the OPG’s photoelastic potential. The correlation coefficients (κ) between POE and RLCs were lower than reported values for pure microbial cultures reflecting the enhanced contribution from different photosynthetic clades with a variety of light-harvesting pigments present in OPGs. In an OPG reactor, the photochemical activity can be influenced by the granular size, granular ecology, and reactor operation metrics related to irradiance interactions such as mixing, self-shading, light intensity, photoperiods, and reactor depth. This presents opportunities for design of intensive wastewater resource recovery using phototrophic granular biomass.

The war using microbes: A sustainable approach for wastewater management

Anthropogenic activities and population growth have resulted in a reduced availability of drinking water. To ensure consistency in the existence of drinking water, it is inevitable to establish wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). 70% of India's rural population was found to be without WWTP, waste disposal, and good sanitation. Wastewater has emerged from kitchens, washrooms, etc., with industry activities. This scenario caused severe damage to water resources, leading to degradation of water quality and pathogenic insects. Thus, it is a need of an hour to prompt for better WWTPs for both rural and urban areas. Many parts of the world have started to face severe water shortages in recent years, and wastewater reuse methods need to be updated. Clean water supply is not enough to satisfy the needs of the planet as a whole, and the majority of freshwater in the polar regions takes the form of ice and snow. The increasing population requires clean water for drinks, hygiene, irrigation, and various other applications. Lack of water and contamination of water result from human activities. 90% of wastewater is released to water systems without treatment in developing countries. Studies show that about 730 megatons of waste are annually discharged into water from sewages and other effluents. The sustenance of water resources, applying wastewater treatment technologies, and calling down the percentage of potable water has to be strictly guided by mankind. This review compares the treatment of domestic sewage to its working conditions, energy efficiency, etc. In this review, several treatment methods with different mechanisms involved in waste treatment, industrial effluents, recovery/recycling were discussed. The feasibility of bioaugmentation should eventually be tested through data from field implementation as an important technological challenge, and this analysis identifies many promising areas to be explored in the future.

Prospective scenarios for the management of wastewater resources in Mostaganem region, Algeria

Prospective scenarios for the management of wastewater resources in Mostaganem region, Algeria

Progress on Rural Drainage Water for Rural Revitalization in Northwest China

Shen, Y.; Zhang, D., and Zhao, Y., 2020. Progress on rural drainage water for rural revitalization in northwest China. In: Hu, C. and Cai, M. (eds.), Geo-informatics and Oceanography. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 105, pp. 23–27. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Drainage water has a great effect on rural living water environment in northwest of China. According to some characters of rural drainage, the solution project on engineering technology and management measures is presented to develop the rural drainage water and living water environment in northwest of China. For normal rural areas, low cost technology of drainage engineering includes using natural ecological treatment systems with low energy consumption and paying attention to the recovery and utilization of waste water resources and low impact development. For watershed of drinking water sources, reasonable rural domestic sewage treatment methods should be implemented for different features of the rural areas. The methodology used in this for rural drainage in northwest China could be applied to other sites around the world that are affected by these extreme conditions.

System Dynamics Simulation and Analysis for Comprehensive Utilization and Sustainable Development of Wastewater Resources in Chinese Coal Enterprises

System Dynamics Simulation and Analysis for Comprehensive Utilization and Sustainable Development of Wastewater Resources in Chinese Coal Enterprises

Remediation of dairy wastewater by Euglena gracilis WZSL mutant and β-glucan production

According to the concept of circular economy, food industry wastewater should be considered a secondary raw material that could be exploited, thus reducing the resources escaping from the production system. We aimed to assess the circular sustainability of dairy wastewater treatment by evaluating the possibility of transforming it from a cost to a valuable resource. We tested the non-photosynthetic WSZL mutant of Euglena gracilis as a bio-remediating organism for raw dairy wastewater to recover the resources herein present for biomass growth and simultaneously provide a source of paramylon, a high commercial value glucan. This mutant is an obligate osmotroph, which can synthesize paramylon up to 90% of the cell dry weight with the proper carbon source. We tested the mutant on the wastewater produced by a small dairy facility located near Pisa (Italy) using an indoor bench-scale fermenter allowing the alga to grow inside a dialysis tubing immersed in the effluent. We monitored the effluent variation of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), orthophosphate (PO43--P), electric conductivity and pH. The alga can reduce the pollutant concentration to values allowing indirect discharge of the wastewater into public sewage plants and can be therefore considered a promising organism for tertiary treatment of dairy wastewater. The cells produced about 2.6 g L-1 of paramylon from 3.2 g L-1 biomass, an amount greater compared with that produced by batch cultures, confirming the possibility of recovering wastewater resources and transforming them in a high-value product.