Role of nitrogen transport for efficient energy conversion potential in low carbon and high nitrogen/phosphorus wastewater by microalgal-bacterial system

Xue Li; Chaofan Zhang; Wenying Qu; Peng Xie; Youping Xie; Jo-Shu Chang; Shih-Hsin Ho

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127019

Role of nitrogen transport for efficient energy conversion potential in low carbon and high nitrogen/phosphorus wastewater by microalgal-bacterial system

Bioresour Technol. 2022 May:351:127019. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127019. Epub 2022 Mar 16.

Authors

Xue Li¹, Chaofan Zhang¹, Wenying Qu², Peng Xie¹, Youping Xie³, Jo-Shu Chang⁴, Shih-Hsin Ho⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China.
² College of Water Conservancy and Architecture Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, Xinjiang, PR China.
³ College of Biological Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, PR China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China; Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan; Research Center for Smart and Sustainable Circular Economy, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China. Electronic address: stephen6949@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 35306129
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127019

Abstract

Microalgal-bacterial system (MBS) is potential biotechnology in wastewater treatment because it can remedy defects of conventional processes (e.g., insufficient carbon source and imbalanced elements ratio). However, the mechanisms of nitrogen (N) transport and removal in MBS are still unclear. In this study, it was discovered that MBS was conducive to adsorb NH₄⁺-N and NO₃^--N through electrical neutralization, while extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) could provide binding sites (e.g., -OH and -CH₃) for enhancing N transport and removal. The microalgae-bacteria interaction could accelerate N transport and removal from aqueous solution to cell. More importantly, the microalgal starch biosynthetic metabolism exhibited demonstrating the energy production potential could be boosted via MBS. Overall, the NO₃^--N and NH₄⁺-N removal efficiencies, and energy yield were 82.28%, 94.15%, and 86.81 kJ/L, respectively, which are better than other relevant studies. Altogether, it is meaningful for revealing the applicability of MBS for treating wastewater and producing energy.

Keywords: Energy conversion; Extracellular polymeric substances; Microalgae-bacteria interaction; Nitrogen transport; Starch synthesis.

MeSH terms

Bacteria
Biomass
Carbon
Microalgae*
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Wastewater

Substances

Waste Water
Phosphorus
Carbon
Nitrogen