Phycoremediation potential of Chlorella sp. on the polluted Thirumanimutharu river water

Mathiyazhagan Narayanan; Murugan Prabhakaran; Devarajan Natarajan; Sabariswaran Kandasamy; Rathinam Raja; Isabel S Carvalho; Veeramuthu Ashokkumar; Arunachalam Chinnathambi; Sulaiman Ali Alharbi; Kesavan Devarayan; Arivalagan Pugazhendhi

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130246

Phycoremediation potential of Chlorella sp. on the polluted Thirumanimutharu river water

Chemosphere. 2021 Aug:277:130246. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130246. Epub 2021 Mar 14.

Affiliations

¹ PG and Research Centre in Biotechnology, MGR College, Adhiyamaan Educational and Research Institutions (AERI), Hosur, Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, India.
² Department of Biotechnology, Periyar University, Salem, 636 011, Tamil Nadu, India.
³ Institute for Energy Research, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
⁴ MED-Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Food Science Laboratory, FCT, Building 8, University of Algarve, Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal.
⁵ Department of Chemical Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
⁶ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box -2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Basic Sciences, College of Fisheries Engineering, Tamil Nadu Dr. J. Jayalalithaa Fisheries University, Nagapattinam, 611 002, India.
⁸ School of Renewable Energy, Maejo University, Chiang Mai 50290, Thailand; College of Medical and Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan. Electronic address: pugal.smile@gmail.com.

PMID: 33780682
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130246

Abstract

Rivers are the most significant natural resources that afford outstanding habitation and nourishment for numerous living organisms. Urbanization and industrialization pollute rivers rendering their water unhealthy for consumption. Hence, this work was designed to find a potential native pollutant removing algae from polluted water. The physicochemical properties of the tested river water such as Electric Conductivity (EC), turbidity, total hardness, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Ca, SO²-, and NH₃, NO₃, NO₂, PO₄, Mg, F^- and Cl^- contents were not within the permissible limits. Lab-scale and field-based phycoremediation treatments with the indigenous native microalgal species, Chlorella sp. from the Thirumanimutharu river water sample were set up for 15 days with three different (Group I, II, and III) biomass densities (4 × 10⁴, 8 × 10⁴, and 12 × 10⁴ cells mL^-1). Group III of both the lab-scale and field based treatments showed the maximum reduction in the physicochemical parameters compared to the other groups. Further, the group III of the field based study showed an extensive reduction in BOD (34.51%), COD (32.53%), NO₃, NO₂, free NH₃ (100%) and increased dissolved oxygen (DO) (88.47%) compared to the lab scale study. In addition, the trace elements were also reduced significantly. The pollutant absorbing active functional moieties (O-H, CO, and CN) found on Chlorella sp. had been confirmed by Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. In the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) study, significant morphological changes on the surface of the treated Chlorella sp. were noticed compared with the untreated Chlorella sp. biomass, which also confirmed the absorption of the pollutants during treatment.

Keywords: Chlorella sp.; Field study; Lab scale; Phycoremediation; Polluted river water.

MeSH terms

Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Chlorella*
Environmental Monitoring
Fresh Water
Rivers
Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis
Water Quality

Substances

Water Pollutants, Chemical
Water