Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in manure-free piggery wastewater with high-strength ammonium for nutrients removal and biomass production: Effect of ammonium concentration, carbon/nitrogen ratio and pH

Hongli Zheng; Xiaodan Wu; Guyue Zou; Ting Zhou; Yuhuan Liu; Roger Ruan

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.11.019

Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in manure-free piggery wastewater with high-strength ammonium for nutrients removal and biomass production: Effect of ammonium concentration, carbon/nitrogen ratio and pH

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Feb:273:203-211. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.11.019. Epub 2018 Nov 7.

Authors

Hongli Zheng¹, Xiaodan Wu², Guyue Zou², Ting Zhou², Yuhuan Liu², Roger Ruan³

Affiliations

¹ MOE Biomass Energy Research Center and College of Food Science and Technology and State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 East Nanjing Road, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330047, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: honglizheng@ncu.edu.cn.
² MOE Biomass Energy Research Center and College of Food Science and Technology and State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 East Nanjing Road, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330047, People's Republic of China.
³ MOE Biomass Energy Research Center and College of Food Science and Technology and State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 East Nanjing Road, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330047, People's Republic of China; Center for Biorefining and Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, United States.

PMID: 30447621
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.11.019

Abstract

Ammonia toxicity is a major disadvantage of microalgal growth when high-strength ammonium wastewaters like manure-free piggery wastewater (MFPW) were used as microalgal growth medium. In the present study, the effect of ammonium concentration, carbon/nitrogen ratio, and pH on ammonia toxicity of Chlorella vulgaris cultivated in the MFPW and nutrients removal was investigated. The three important parameters affected ammonia toxicity of C. vulgaris and nutrients removal of the MFPW significantly. The ammonium concentration of the MFPW could be decreased by air stripping. Microalga grew best at a carbon/nitrogen ratio of 25:1 with the maximum biomass concentration of 3.83 g L^-1, the highest cell viability of 97%, and the removal of 100% ammonia, 95% of total phosphorus, and 99% of chemical oxygen demand. Ammonia toxicity was alleviated by pH control. The application of the established strategies can enhance nutrients removal of the MFPW while mitigating ammonia toxicity of C. vulgaris.

Keywords: Ammonia toxicity; Manure-free piggery wastewater; Microalga; Nutrients removal.

MeSH terms

Ammonium Compounds / chemistry
Ammonium Compounds / metabolism*
Animals
Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Biomass*
Carbon / analysis*
Carbon / metabolism
Chlorella vulgaris / metabolism*
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Manure
Nitrogen / analysis*
Nitrogen / metabolism
Nutrients
Swine
Wastewater / chemistry*
Wastewater / microbiology*

Substances

Ammonium Compounds
Manure
Waste Water
Carbon
Nitrogen