Microalgae cultivation in agro-industrial effluents for biodiesel application: effects of the availability of nutrients

• Published in: Water science and technology Vol. 78; no. 1-2; pp. 57 - 68
• Main Authors: Tango, Mariana Daniel, Calijuri, Maria Lúcia, Assemany, Paula Peixoto, do Couto, Eduardo de Aguiar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IWA Publishing 01-08-2018
• Subjects: Algae; Biodiesel fuels; Biofuels; Biomass; Biotechnology; Chlorophyll; Consumption; Cultivation; Effluents; Environmental engineering; Industrial effluents; Industrial Waste; Industrial wastes; Industrial wastewater; International agreements; Laboratories; Lipids; Meat; Meat processing industry; Meat-Packing Industry; Microalgae; Microalgae - metabolism; Mineral nutrients; Nitrogen - metabolism; Nutrient availability; Nutrient removal; Nutrients; Phosphorus; Phosphorus - metabolism; Photobioreactors; Phytoplankton; Processing industry; Removal; Solid suspensions; Suspended particulate matter; Suspended solids; Water treatment; Brazil
• ISSN: 0273-1223; 1996-9732
• DOI: 10.2166/wst.2018.180

The present study evaluated the cultivation of microalgae in a photobioreactor using effluents from the meat-processing industry, which had been previously treated at the primary and secondary levels. Scenedesmus sp. was the dominant genus in the phytoplankton community in both of the evaluated effluents. The different nutritional conditions affected the production of biomass, which reached 1,160 mg/L of volatile suspended solids (VSS) and 371 mg/L of VSS with cultivation in the primary (PE) and secondary effluents (SE), respectively. In both effluents, great removal efficiencies close to quantification limits were observed for ammoniacal nitrogen and soluble phosphorus. Regarding the accumulation of lipids, there were no considerable differences between the effluents. The highest lipid productivity that was observed in the PE, which reached 3.7 g/m²·d, was attributed to its larger production of biomass as a consequence of its better nutritional condition in relation to the SE.