Exploration of Microalgae-Activated Sludge Growth Performance in Lab-Scale Photobioreactors under Outdoor Environmental Conditions for Wastewater Biotreatment
Abraham O. James,
Abayomi O. Bankole,
Caroline M. E. Pompei,
Gustavo A. S. A. Dantas,
Graziele Ruas,
Gustavo H. R. Silva
Affiliations
Abraham O. James
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru Campus, Sao Paulo 17033-360, Brazil
Abayomi O. Bankole
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru Campus, Sao Paulo 17033-360, Brazil
Caroline M. E. Pompei
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru Campus, Sao Paulo 17033-360, Brazil
Gustavo A. S. A. Dantas
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru Campus, Sao Paulo 17033-360, Brazil
Graziele Ruas
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru Campus, Sao Paulo 17033-360, Brazil
Gustavo H. R. Silva
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru Campus, Sao Paulo 17033-360, Brazil
Increasing the volume of untreated and inadequately treated municipal wastewater undermines the circular economy potential of wastewater resources, particularly in low-income regions. This present study focused on and evaluated the performance of native microalgae-activated sludge (MAS) growth for tertiary treatment of anaerobically digested wastewater from an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) in an outdoor lab-scale photobioreactor (2.2 L). Three conditions with distinct MAS inoculum concentrations alongside three controls were operated in batch mode for 5 days hydraulic retention time (HRT) at 11.5:12.5 photo-hours. The MAS inoculum concentration influenced the treatment outcome. The best performance was observed when the MAS concentration was 0.10/0.20 g L−1, and the cell density was 1.60 × 107 cells mL−1, total biomass productivity of 0.10 g TSS L−1 d−1, total phosphorus uptake of 85.1%, and total nitrogen uptake of 66.1%. Logarithmic removal (Log-Re) of bacterial pathogens (water quality indicators) showed Log-Re 3.4 for total coliforms (1.37 × 102 CFU 100 mL−1) and 4.7 for Escherichia coli (0.00 × 100 CFU 100 mL−1). The results revealed optimum remediation performance and nutrient recovery potential with appropriate inoculum concentration, in admiration to advancing the science of circular economy.
