Treatment of real wastewater using co-culture of immobilized Chlorella vulgaris and suspended activated sludge
Abstract
The use of algal-bacterial symbiotic association establishes a sustainable and cost-effective strategy in wastewater treatment. Using municipal wastewater, the removal performances of inorganic nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and organic pollutants were investigated by the co-culture system having different inoculum ratios (R) of suspended activated sludge to alginate-immobilized microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. The co-culture reactors with lower R ratios obtained more removal of nitrogen than in pure culture of C. vulgaris. The reactor with R = 0.5 (sludge/microalgae) showed the highest performance representing 66% removal after 24 h and 95% removal after 84 h. Phosphorus was completely eliminated (100%) in the co-culture system with inoculum ratios of 0.5 and 1.0 after 24 h and in the pure C. vulgaris culture after 36 h. The COD level was greatly reduced in the activated sludge reactor, while, it was increasing in pure C. vulgaris culture after 24 h of incubation. However, COD was almost stabilized after 24 h in the reactors with high R ratios such as 2.0, 5.0, and 10 due to the higher concentration of activated sludge. The growth of C. vulgaris was promoted from 0.03 g/L/d to 0.05 g/L/d in the co-culture of low inoculum ratios such as R = 0.5, implying that there exist an optimum inoculum ratio in the co-culture system in order to achieve efficient removal of nutrients.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In municipal wastewater, at a low sludge/microalgae ratio of 0.5, the growth of microalgae doubled and more nutrient removal was achieved (66% removal of nitrogen and 100% of phosphorus in one day) relative to pure microalgal culture.
“In municipal WW, at a low sludge/microalgae ratio (0.5), the growth of microalgae doubled, and more nutrient removal was achieved (66% removal of N and 100% of P in one day) relative to pure microalgal culture [201].”
From Microalgae-based wastewater treatment: Mechanisms, challenges, recent advances, and future prospects (2023) · cites this paper as [201]
Cites
Algal–bacterial processes for the treatment of hazardous contaminants: A review
Muñoz, R., & Guieysse, B. (2006) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2006.06.011 · Cited by 1,497 · see citing works
Nitrogen and phosphorus removal from urban wastewater by the microalga Scenedesmus obliquus
Martínez, M. E. (2000) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/s0960-8524(99)00121-2 · Cited by 517 · see citing works
de‐Bashan, L. E., Hernández, J.-P., Morey, T., & Yoav Bashan, A. (2003) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2003.09.022 · Cited by 387 · see citing works
Lee, C. S., Lee, S., Ko, S.-R., Oh, H., & Ahn, C. (2014) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2014.10.029 · Cited by 356 · see citing works
Nitrogen availability influences phosphorus removal in microalgae-based wastewater treatment
Beuckels, A., Smolders, E., & Muylaert, K. (2015) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.03.018 · Cited by 351 · see citing works
de‐Bashan, L. E. (2002) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/s0043-1354(01)00522-x · Cited by 334 · see citing works
Posadas, E., Morales, M. D. M., Gomez, C., Acién, F. G., & Muñoz, R. (2015) · Chemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.cej.2014.12.059 · Cited by 317 · see citing works
Posadas, E., García-Encina, P. A., Soltau, A., Domínguez, A., Díaz, I., & Muñoz, R. (2013) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.04.008 · Cited by 297 · see citing works
Effect of immobilized microalgal bead concentrations on wastewater nutrient removal
Tam, N. F. Y., & Wong, Y. S. (2000) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/s0269-7491(99)00118-9 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Wastewater Nutrients (N and P) Removal by Carrageenan and Alginate Immobilized Chlorella Vulgaris
Lau, A. P. S., Tam, N. F. Y., & Wong, Y. S. (1997) · Environmental Technology · doi:10.1080/09593331808616614 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Liang, Z., Liu, Y., Ge, F., Xu, Y., Tao, N., Peng, F., & Wong, M. H. (2013) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.05.014 · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Mennaa, F. Z., Arbib, Z., & Perales, J. A. (2015) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.06.007 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Karya, N. G. A. I., Steen, P., & Lens, P. N. L. (2013) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.02.005 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Influence of organic matter generated by Chlorella vulgaris on five different modes of flocculation
Vandamme, D., Foubert, I., Fraeye, I., & Muylaert, K. (2012) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2012.08.121 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Zhao, X., Zhou, Y., Huang, S., Qiu, D., Schideman, L. C., Chai, X., & Zhao, Y. (2014) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.12.112 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Mujtaba, G., Rizwan, M., & Lee, K. (2017) · Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.jiec.2017.01.021 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
Self-citationThe combined effect of bacteria and Chlorella vulgaris on the treatment of municipal wastewaters
He, P. J., Mao, B., Lü, F., Shao, L. M., Lee, D. J., & Chang, J. S. (2013) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.07.111 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Abed, R. M. M. (2009) · International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation · doi:10.1016/j.ibiod.2009.10.008 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Peng, Y., Wang, X., & Li, B.-K. (2006) · Desalination · doi:10.1016/j.desal.2005.06.023 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Advanced Treatment of Wastewater Using Symbiotic Co-culture of Microalgae and Bacteria
Mujtaba, G., & Lee, K. (2016) · Applied Chemistry for Engineering · doi:10.14478/ace.2016.1002 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Self-citationMujtaba, G., Rizwan, M., & Lee, K. (2015) · Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering · doi:10.1007/s12257-015-0421-5 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Self-citationLiu, K., Li, J., Qiao, H., Lin, A., & Wang, G. (2012) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2012.02.003 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Kim, G., Choi, W., Lee, C., & Lee, K. (2013) · Biochemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.bej.2013.02.010 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Self-citationLv, J., Yuan, L., Chen, X., Liu, L., & Luo, D. (2014) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.10.018 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Factors affecting the growth characteristics of alginate-entrapped Chlorella
Robinson, P., Goulding, K. H., Mak, A. L., et al. (1986) · Enzyme and Microbial Technology · doi:10.1016/0141-0229(86)90160-2 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Microalgae-based wastewater treatment: Mechanisms, challenges, recent advances, and future prospects
Abdelfattah, A., Ali, S. S., Ramadan, H., El-Aswar, E. I., Eltawab, R., Ho, S.-H., Elsamahy, T., Li, S., El-Sheekh, M. M., Schagerl, M., et al. (2023) · Environmental Science and Ecotechnology · doi:10.1016/j.ese.2022.100205 · Cited by 812 · see citing works
“5), the growth of microalgae doubled, and more nutrient removal was achieved (66% removal of N and 100% of P in one day) relative to pure microalgal culture [201].”
BackgroundNguyen, T.-T.-D., Nguyen, T.-T., An Binh, Q., Bui, X.-T., Ngo, H. H., Vo, H. N. P., Andrew Lin, K.-Y., Vo, T.-D.-H., Guo, W., Lin, C., et al. (2020) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123754 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Huo, S., Kong, M., Zhu, F., Qian, J., Huang, D., Chen, P., & Ruan, R. (2020) · Algal Research · doi:10.1016/j.algal.2019.101744 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Rosero-Chasoy, G., Rodríguez-Jasso, R. M., Aguilar, C. N., Buitrón, G., Chairez, I., & Ruiz, H. A. (2021) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124458 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Singh, V., & Mishra, V. (2021) · Biochemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.bej.2021.108129 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mujtaba, G., & Lee, K.
- Affiliations
- Dawood University of Engineering and Technology (PK)
- Myongji University (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Lee, Kisay
- Venue
- Water Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-09
- Volume
- 120
- Pages
- 174-184
- ISSN
- 0043-1354 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2611922231
- Cited by
- 240
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 7
- FWCI
- 5.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Water Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of Korea (PJT200255)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
- Keywords
- Chlorella vulgaris, algal-bacterial co-culture, municipal wastewater treatment, nitrogen removal, phosphorus removal, COD removal, inoculum ratio, nutrient removal, microalgae growth
- MeSH terms
- Chlorella, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sewage, Waste Disposal, Fluid, Coculture Techniques, Chlorella vulgaris, Wastewater
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
