Sub-pilot scale cultivation of Tetradesmus dimorphus in wastewater for biomass production and nutrients removal: Effects of photoperiod, CO2 concentration and aeration intensity

Publication Name

Journal of Water Process Engineering

Abstract

The potential of microalgae in wastewater treatment and resource utilization has received considerable interest. For better outcomes in large-scale cultivations, it is usually essential to optimize the microalgal culture parameters in a sub-pilot cultivation system. Herein, a series of experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of photoperiod, CO2 concentration and aeration intensity on nutrients removal and biomass production of Tetradesmus dimorphus under the 50 L culture scale. The results showed that the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (CODcr), NH4+-N and total phosphorus (TP) in primary effluent (PE) were 93.9 %, 92.3 % and 84.8 %, respectively. Compared with 15 h:9 h (15 h light and 9 h dark cycle), the maximum Chlorophyll-a content of 2797.78 mg/m3 was reached at 24 h:0 h. The maximum microalgae biomass (OD680 = 0.56) was obtained when the CO2 concentration was 200 mL/min, but CO2 enrichment inhibited nitrogen removal. At optimal aeration intensity (60 L/h), the highest chlorophyll-a content was recorded on day 3. The removal rates of NH4+-N and TP were 92.1 % and 89.7 %, respectively.

Open Access Status

This publication is not available as open access

Volume

49

Article Number

103003

Funding Number

2018A030313185

Funding Sponsor

Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.103003