Nitrogen and phosphorus removal from anaerobically digested wastewater by microalgae cultured in a novel membrane photobioreactor
Open accessAbstract
With the further development of anaerobic digestion, an increasing output of anaerobically digested wastewater (ADW), which typically contained high concentrations of ammonium, phosphate, and suspended solids, was inevitable. Microalgae cultivation offered a potential waste-to-value strategy to reduce the high nutrient content in ADW and obtain high value-added microalgae. However, ADW generally contained a mass of pollutants (suspended solids, competitors, etc.), which could inhibit microalgae growth and even result in microalgae death by limiting light utilization. Thus, it is highly imperative to solve the problem by a novel modified photobioreactor for further practical applications. Four microalgae species, Scenedesmus dimorphus , Scenedesmus quadricauda , Chlorella sorokiniana , and Chlorella vulgaris ESP-6, were cultivated in the membrane photobioreactor (MPBR) fed with ADW to investigate the efficiency of ammonia and phosphorus removal. The results showed that C. sorokiniana had the best performance for the removal of ammonia and phosphorus from ADW. The highest amount of C. sorokiniana biomass was 1.15 g/L, and the removal efficiency of phosphate (66.2%) peaked at an ammonia concentration of 128.5 mg/L after 9 days’ incubation. Moreover, the MPBR with 0.1 μm membrane pore size had the best ammonia and phosphate removal efficiencies (43.9 and 64.9%) at an ammonia concentration of 128.5 mg/L during 9 days’ incubation. Finally, the continuous multi-batch cultivation of C. sorokiniana was performed for 45 days in MPBR, and higher removal ammonia amount (18.1 mg/day) and proteins content (45.6%) were obtained than those (14.5 mg/day and 37.4%) in an normal photobioreactor. In this study, a novel MPBR not only eliminated the inhibitory effects of suspended solid and microorganisms, but also maintained a high microalgae concentration to obtain a high amount of ammonia and phosphate removal. The research provided a theoretical foundation for the practical application of MPBRs in various wastewater treatment schemes without pretreatment by algae, which could be used as biofuels or protein feed.
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Microalgae assimilate carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and micronutrients (heavy metals), which are then transformed into organic compounds.
“Microalgae assimilate carbon (C), N, P, and micronutrients (HMs), which are then transformed into organic compounds [54].”
From Microalgae-based wastewater treatment: Mechanisms, challenges, recent advances, and future prospects (2023) · cites this paper as [54]
The Results and discussion (MPBR performances under different conditions; no page given) report ammonia and phosphate removal and link ammonia availability to synthesis of proteins and chlorophyll. The paper also describes organic carbon as a source for microalgal growth. It does not address heavy-metal assimilation or show that all the listed substances are transformed into organic compounds. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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Microalgae-based wastewater treatment: Mechanisms, challenges, recent advances, and future prospects
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“Microalgae assimilate carbon (C), N, P, and micronutrients (HMs), which are then transformed into organic compounds [54].”
BackgroundMultifaceted roles of microalgae in the application of wastewater biotreatment: a review
Chai, W. S., Tan, W. G., Halimatul Munawaroh, H. S., Gupta, V. K., Ho, S.-H., & Show, P. L. (2021) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.116236 · Cited by 404 · see citing works
- Authors
- Chen, X., Li, Z., He, N., Zheng, Y., Li, H., Wang, H., Wang, Y., Lu, Y., Li, Q., & Peng, Y.
- Affiliations
- Xiamen University (CN)
- Jimei University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- He, Ning
- Li, Qingbiao
- ORCID
- Venue
- Biotechnology for Biofuels
- Published
- 2018-07-09
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 190-190
- ISSN
- 1754-6834 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6036682
- OpenAlex
- W2814969115
- Cited by
- 114
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Biotechnology for Biofuels (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0400205)
- National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB733505)
- The University of Science and Technology in Fujian province in the cooperative major project (2015H6004)
- The Xiamen Southern Oceanographic Center (15GYY024NF03)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
- Keywords
- nitrogen removal, phosphorus removal, microalgae cultivation, membrane photobioreactor, Chlorella sorokiniana, Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus, ammonia removal, phosphate removal, microalgal biomass, microalgal proteins, biofuel feedstock
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