Scenedesmus-based treatment of nitrogen and phosphorus from effluent of anaerobic digester and bio-oil production

Bioresour Technol. 2015 Nov:196:235-40. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.07.091. Epub 2015 Jul 29.

Abstract

In this study, a microalgae-based technology was employed to treat wastewater and produce biodiesel at the same time. A local isolate Scenedesmus sp. was found to be a well suited species, particularly for an effluent from anaerobic digester (AD) containing low carbon but high nutrients (NH3-N=273mgL(-1), total P=58.75mgL(-1)). This algae-based treatment was quite effective: nutrient removal efficiencies were over 99.19% for nitrogen and 98.01% for phosphorus. Regarding the biodiesel production, FAME contents of Scenedesmus sp. were found to be relatively low (8.74% (w/w)), but overall FAME productivity was comparatively high (0.03gL(-1)d(-1)) due to its high biomass productivity (0.37gL(-1)d(-1)). FAMEs were satisfactory to the several standards for the biodiesel quality. The Scenedesmus-based technology may serve as a promising option for the treatment of nutrient-rich wastewater and especially so for the AD effluent.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Biodiesel; Nitrogen removal; Phosphorus removal; Scenedesmus sp..

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anaerobiosis
  • Biofuels*
  • Biomass
  • Bioreactors
  • Carbon
  • Fatty Acids / analysis
  • Lipid Metabolism
  • Microalgae / growth & development
  • Microalgae / metabolism
  • Nitrogen / analysis
  • Nitrogen / metabolism*
  • Phosphorus / analysis
  • Phosphorus / metabolism*
  • Scenedesmus / growth & development
  • Scenedesmus / metabolism*
  • Wastewater / analysis
  • Water Purification / economics
  • Water Purification / methods*

Substances

  • Biofuels
  • Fatty Acids
  • Waste Water
  • Phosphorus
  • Carbon
  • Nitrogen