Biotreatment of anaerobically digested swine manure with microalgae

The usage of Cyanobacteria in wastewater treatment: prospects and limitations

The applicability of Cyanobacteria executes various roles in the treatment of wastewater, assembling of superfluous food and, thus, produces valued biomass which has various applications. Besides this, they enrich and improve the quality of water as they are photosynthetic autotrophs. Currently, Cyanobacteria gained momentum for remediation of wastewaters because firstly, they enhances the O₂ content of waters through photosynthesis and perform bioremediation of some heavy metals. Secondly, Cyanobacteria play significant roles in distressing the biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, turbidity, minerals and microbes; thirdly, they can be used either as axenic cultures or as mixed cultures both offering distinct advantages. Lastly, some species are tolerant towards extreme temperatures both low and high, acidic pH, high salt concentrations and heavy metals, which makes them outstanding candidates for the wastewater treatment plants. The suitable immobilization methods must evolve, better understanding of their morphological and biochemical parameters is required for the optimum growth, easy methods of harvesting the biomass after the treatment are required and more trials on large-scale basis are required before they can be launched on full-fledged basis for wastewater treatments.

Coupling of Microalgae Cultivation with Anaerobic Digestion of Poultry Wastes: Toward Sustainable Value Added Bioproducts

Third generation biofuels and high-value bioproducts produced from microalgal biomass have been considered promising long-term sustainable alternatives for energy and/or food production, potentially decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. Microalgae as a source of biofuels have been widely studied for bioethanol/biodiesel/biogas production. However, critical research is needed in order to increase the efficiency of microalgae production from high-N agri-waste, not only for biofuels but also for bio-based products, and thus enhance its commercial viability. The growth in the poultry industry has led to increased chicken manure (CM), which are rich in ammonia, phosphate, potassium, and other trace elements. These constituents could be used as nutrients for growing microalgae. In this research, a two-stage (liquid-solid) anaerobic digester treating CM at 20 ± 1 °C was performed, and liquid digestate (leachate) obtained after the digestion process was used as a substrate to grow the microalgal strain Chlorella vulgaris CPCC 90. Considering the high-N content (NH₃-N: 5314 mg/L; TKN: 6197 mg/L) in liquid digestate, different dilutions were made, using distilled water to obtain viz. 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%, and 100% of the digestate concentrations for the microalgae cultivation. Preliminary results showed that Chlorella vulgaris CPCC 90 was able to grow and utilize nutrients from a 10% diluted CM digestate. Future research is underway to enhance microalgal growth at higher digestate concentrations and to optimize the use of microalgae/microalgae-bacteria consortia for better adaptation to high-N content wastes. An AD-microalgae coupling scenario has been proposed for the circulation bioeconomy framework.

Cyanobacterial blooms in wastewater treatment facilities: Significance and emerging monitoring strategies

Municipal wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs) are prone to the proliferation of cyanobacterial species which thrive in stable, nutrient-rich environments. Dense cyanobacterial blooms frequently disrupt treatment processes and the supply of recycled water due to their production of extracellular polymeric substances, which hinder microfiltration, and toxins, which pose a health risk to end-users. A variety of methods are employed by water utilities for the identification and monitoring of cyanobacteria and their toxins in WWTFs, including microscopy, flow cytometry, ELISA, chemoanalytical methods, and more recently, molecular methods. Here we review the literature on the occurrence and significance of cyanobacterial blooms in WWTFs and discuss the pros and cons of the various strategies for monitoring these potentially hazardous events. Particular focus is directed towards next-generation metagenomic sequencing technologies for the development of site-specific cyanobacterial bloom management strategies. Long-term multi-omic observations will enable the identification of indicator species and the development of site-specific bloom dynamics models for the mitigation and management of cyanobacterial blooms in WWTFs. While emerging metagenomic tools could potentially provide deep insight into the diversity and flux of problematic cyanobacterial species in these systems, they should be considered a complement to, rather than a replacement of, quantitative chemoanalytical approaches.

Pretreatment of pig manure liquid digestate for microalgae cultivation via innovative flocculation-biological contact oxidation approach

Liquid digestate with high concentration of organic matter and suspended solids cannot be directly used for microalgae cultivation. This study employed an innovative integrated approach, combining flocculation and biological contact oxidation (F-BCO), as a pretreatment to create a suitable environment for microalgae growth. The laboratory and pilot-scale experiments were both performed to verify operational performance. In F-BCO pretreatment, chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH₃-N, and total phosphorus (TP) were reduced 55.0%, 46.1%, and 74.9%, respectively at pilot-scale in steady-state phase. It is further determined that the COD and TP removal were primarily attributed to flocculation, and NH₃-N removal was mainly due to oxidation process (70%). The pretreated biogas slurry (BS) can be directly used for Chlorella cultivation, reaching a maximum accumulated biomass concentration of 3.3 g/L. The F-BCO process demonstrated a promising potential for pretreating BS to be a culture media for microalgae cultivation.

Toxicity alleviation for microalgae cultivation by cationic starch addition and ammonia stripping and study on the cost assessment

Aiming at promoting microalgae-based anaerobically digested swine manure (AD-SM) treatment, this work evaluated the feasibility of removing turbidity and ammonia in swine manure by cationic starch addition and air bubbling-driven ammonia stripping. It was observed that turbidity and ammonia toxicity were two main factors limiting algae growth. Addition of cationic starch effectively reduced turbidity of AD-SM by 77.10% in 40 min. 6 L min⁻¹ air flow rate and 5 h stripping time were regarded as good conditions for ammonia stripping. An economic analysis was conducted to assess the feasibility of this pretreatment strategy in a pilot scale system and results indicated that unit energy input and freshwater consumption were 0.036 kW h g⁻¹ dry biomass and 0.76 L g⁻¹ dry biomass, respectively, much lower than those of a high dilution strategy. So it is a more promising and feasible way to pretreat AD-SM with low dilution by turbidity removal and ammonia stripping.

Aiming at promoting microalgae-based anaerobically digested swine manure (AD-SM) treatment, this work evaluated the feasibility of removing turbidity and ammonia in swine manure by cationic starch addition and air bubbling-driven ammonia stripping.

Potential of Chlorella vulgaris culture for waste treatment from anaerobic biomass biodigestion at the Piaszczyna (Poland) integrated facility

Many strains of microalgae are potentially useful for industrial purposes. Microalgal biomass and microalgae-derived substances are becoming valuable products with a widening range of applications including biofuels and human food. In this study, the possibility of using the methane waste from biomass biodigestion in the cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris biomass with simultaneous waste treatment was investigated. The methane waste from biomass biodigestion was obtained from a multifunctional facility (Piaszczyna, Poland) producing bioethanol from plant biomass with several steps to reuse the wastes, heat, and carbon dioxide. The growth and biomass yield, as well as photosynthetic performance of C. vulgaris on diluted waste, were similar to the results obtained on the standard mineral medium. The cultivation of C. vulgaris was the waste, treatment step that significantly reduced chemical oxygen demand. The results indicated that the waste contained micro- and macronutrients sufficient to sustain the growth of C. vulgaris cell culture up to 2 g of dry biomass per liter of culture. The results contributed to the development of the waste treatment step in the Piaszczyna facility that allowed for a further decrease in emissions and may lead to development of microalgae biomass-based products in the facility portfolio.

Comprehensive evaluation of a cost-effective method of culturing Chlorella pyrenoidosa with unsterilized piggery wastewater for biofuel production

BACKGROUND

The utilization of Chlorella for the dual goals of biofuel production and wastewater nutrient removal is highly attractive. Moreover, this technology combined with flue gas (rich in CO₂) cleaning is considered to be an effective way of improving biofuel production. However, the sterilization of wastewater is an energy-consuming step. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate a cost-effective method of culturing Chlorella pyrenoidosa in unsterilized piggery wastewater for biofuel production by sparging air or simulated flue gas, including algal biomass production, lipid production, nutrient removal rate and the mutual effects between algae and other microbes.

RESULTS

The average biomass productivity of C. pyrenoidosa reached 0.11 g L^-1 day^-1/0.15 g L^-1 day^-1 and the average lipid productivity reached 19.3 mg L^-1 day^-1/30.0 mg L^-1 day^-1 when sparging air or simulated flue gas, respectively. This method achieved fairish nutrient removal efficiency with respect to chemical oxygen demand (43.9%/55.1% when sparging air and simulated flue gas, respectively), ammonia (98.7%/100% when sparging air and simulated flue gas, respectively), total nitrogen (38.6%/51.9% when sparging air or simulated flue gas, respectively) and total phosphorus (42.8%/60.5% when sparging air or simulated flue gas, respectively). Culturing C. pyrenoidosa strongly influenced the microbial community in piggery wastewater. In particular, culturing C. pyrenoidosa enriched the abundance of the obligate parasite Vampirovibrionales, which can result in the death of Chlorella.

CONCLUSION

The study provided a comprehensive evaluation of culturing C. pyrenoidosa in unsterilized piggery wastewater for biofuel production. The results indicated that this cost-effective method is feasible but has considerable room for improving. More importantly, this study elucidated the mutual effects between algae and other microbes. In particular, a detrimental effect of the obligate parasite Vampirovibrionales on algal biomass and lipid production was found.

Selection of microalgae intended for valorization of digestate from agro-waste mixtures

Digestates have been recently recognized as valuable substrates for microalgal cultivation, effectively combining wastewater remediation and biofuels production. In this regard, selection of the appropriate species for such a process is of utmost importance. In this study, the performance of seven different microalgal strains in 10% (v/v) digestate which derived from the co-digestion of several agro-waste streams was investigated. Parachlorella kessleri, Acutodesmus obliquus, Chlorella vulgaris and Tetraselmis tetrathele were able to acclimate to this new medium, resulting in biomass yields and fatty acids (FAs) content which varied between 570-1117 mg L^-1 and 3.9-24.5%, respectively. The main FAs detected in the four species were oleic, palmitic and linolenic acid, with significant differences in their relative abundance. Concerning nutrients removal, almost complete NH₃-N removal was observed, while % TP removal exceeded 80% for three of the four strains tested. Furthermore, induction kinetics of prompt chlorophyll fluorescence was used as a screening tool indicative of the reactions of the photosynthetic machinery of different microalgal species cultivated in digestate.

Microalgal post-treatment of anaerobically digested agro-industrial wastes for nutrient removal and lipids production

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cultivating Parachlorella kessleri and Acutodesmus obliquus, in anaerobic digestion effluent (ADE) derived from the co-digestion of end-of-life dairy products with mixtures of agro-industrial wastes. To this end, their performance under sterile and non-sterile conditions and different ADE loadings was evaluated, in terms of biomass and lipid production, nutrient removal efficiency and vitality of the photosynthetic apparatus. 10% (v/v) ADE loading inhibited growth over 9-12days of cultivation, however biomass yields of 1.1 and 1gL^-1, 22.7% and 19.5% (w/w) fatty acids concentration, as well as NH₃-N assimilation of 49.7mgL^-1 and 32.3mgL^-1 and TP removal of 84.2% and 84% were recorded for P. kessleri and A. obliquus, respectively. Among all the ADE-based treatments tested, P. kessleri outperformed A. obliquus, with no differences observed between sterilized and non-sterilized ADE.

Application of nitrogen sufficiency conversion strategy for microalgae-based ammonium-rich wastewater treatment

Ammonium ([Formula: see text]-N)-rich wastewater, a main cause for eutrophication, can serve as a promising medium for fast microalgae cultivation with efficient [Formula: see text]-N removal. To achieve this goal, a well-controlled three-stage treatment process was developed. Two trophic modes (mixotrophy and heterotrophy) in Stage 1 and Stage 2, with two nitrogen availability conditions (N sufficient and N deprived) in Stage 2, and different [Formula: see text]-N concentrations in Stage 3 were compared to investigate the effects of nitrogen sufficiency conversion on indigenous strain UMN266 for [Formula: see text]-N removal. Results showed that mixotrophic cultures in the first two stages with N deprivation in Stage 2 was the optimum treatment strategy, and higher [Formula: see text]-N concentration in Stage 3 facilitated both microalgal growth and [Formula: see text]-N removal, with average and maximum biomass productivity of 55.3 and 161.0 mg L(-1) d(-1), and corresponding removal rates of 4.2 and 15.0 mg L(-1) d(-1), respectively, superior to previously published results. Observations of intracellular compositions confirmed the optimum treatment strategy, discovering excellent starch accumulating property of strain UMN266 as well. Combination of bioethanol production with the proposed three-stage process using various real wastewater streams at corresponding stages was suggested for future application.

Effects of various amino acids as organic nitrogen sources on the growth and biochemical composition of Chlorella pyrenoidosa

This study investigated the effects of eighteen l-amino acids on the growth and biochemical composition of Chlorella pyrenoidosa. Under the nitrate deficiency condition, ten l-amino acids were found to exert stronger stimulative effects on the algal growth than the other amino acids. After 10-day culture, addition of 0.5gL(-1) the above mentioned ten amino acids significantly increased the cellular protein contents by 441.3-110.8%, respectively, and significantly decreased the carbohydrate contents by 60.7-16.2%, respectively. Under the normal nitrate condition, the cellular biochemical composition was not significantly affected by addition of serine, leucine, proline, aspartic acid, asparagine, and glycine, whereas addition of aspartic acid and arginine increased the algal biomass by 110.2% and 62.8% compared with the control. Finally, the significance of this work in the biotechnological application of culturing C. pyrenoidosa in organic wastewater rich in amino acids was further discussed.

Cyanobacteria: Photoautotrophic Microbial Factories for the Sustainable Synthesis of Industrial Products

Cyanobacteria are widely distributed Gram-negative bacteria with a long evolutionary history and the only prokaryotes that perform plant-like oxygenic photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria possess several advantages as hosts for biotechnological applications, including simple growth requirements, ease of genetic manipulation, and attractive platforms for carbon neutral production process. The use of photosynthetic cyanobacteria to directly convert carbon dioxide to biofuels is an emerging area of interest. Equipped with the ability to degrade environmental pollutants and remove heavy metals, cyanobacteria are promising tools for bioremediation and wastewater treatment. Cyanobacteria are characterized by the ability to produce a spectrum of bioactive compounds with antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antialgal properties that are of pharmaceutical and agricultural significance. Several strains of cyanobacteria are also sources of high-value chemicals, for example, pigments, vitamins, and enzymes. Recent advances in biotechnological approaches have facilitated researches directed towards maximizing the production of desired products in cyanobacteria and realizing the potential of these bacteria for various industrial applications. In this review, the potential of cyanobacteria as sources of energy, bioactive compounds, high-value chemicals, and tools for aquatic bioremediation and recent progress in engineering cyanobacteria for these bioindustrial applications are discussed.

Cadmium removal by Euglena gracilis is enhanced under anaerobic growth conditions

The facultative protist Euglena gracilis, a heavy metal hyper-accumulator, was grown under photo-heterotrophic and extreme conditions (acidic pH, anaerobiosis and with Cd(2+)) and biochemically characterized. High biomass (8.5×10(6)cellsmL(-1)) was reached after 10 days of culture. Under anaerobiosis, photosynthetic activity built up a microaerophilic environment of 0.7% O₂, which was sufficient to allow mitochondrial respiratory activity: glutamate and malate were fully consumed, whereas 25-33% of the added glucose was consumed. In anaerobic cells, photosynthesis but not respiration was activated by Cd(2+) which induced higher oxidative stress. Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were 20 times lower in control cells under anaerobiosis than in aerobiosis, although Cd(2+) induced a higher MDA production. Cd(2+) stress induced increased contents of chelating thiols (cysteine, glutathione and phytochelatins) and polyphosphate. Biosorption (90%) and intracellular accumulation (30%) were the mechanisms by which anaerobic cells removed Cd(2+) from medium, which was 36% higher versus aerobic cells. The present study indicated that E. gracilis has the ability to remove Cd(2+) under anaerobic conditions, which might be advantageous for metal removal in sediments from polluted water bodies or bioreactors, where the O₂ concentration is particularly low.

Effects of various organic carbon sources on the growth and biochemical composition of Chlorella pyrenoidosa

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of various organic carbon sources (glucose, galactose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose and starch) on the growth and biochemical composition of Chlorella pyrenoidosa. Monosaccharides were found to exert stronger stimulative effects on the algal growth than disaccharides and starch. After 10-day culture, addition of 0.5-5.0 g L(-1) glucose and galactose significantly reduced the cellular protein contents by 27.7-63.7% and 22.6-60.5%, respectively, and significantly increased the carbohydrate contents by 103.2-266.5% and 91.9-240.0%, respectively. However, addition of 0.5-5.0 g L(-1) disaccharides and starch did not significantly affect the contents of lipid, protein and carbohydrate. Similar to the normal nitrogen condition, the cellular biochemical composition was not significantly affected by addition of 3.0 g L(-1) disaccharides and starch under the low nitrogen condition. Finally, the significance of this work in the biotechnological application of mixotrophic cultivation of C. pyrenoidosa was further discussed.

Digestate color and light intensity affect nutrient removal and competition phenomena in a microalgal-bacterial ecosystem

During anaerobic digestion, nutrients are mineralized and may require post-treatment for optimum valorization. The cultivation of autotrophic microalgae using the digestate supernatant is a promising solution; however the dark color of the influent poses a serious problem. First, the color of the digestates was studied and the results obtained using three different digestates demonstrated a strong heterogeneity although their color remained rather constant over time. The digestates absorbed light over the whole visible spectrum and remained colored even after a ten-fold dilution. Secondly, the impact of light and of substrate color on the growth of Scenedesmus sp. and on nitrogen removal were assessed. These experiments led to the construction of a model for predicting the impact of influent color and light intensity on N removal. Maximum N removal (8.5 mgN- [Formula: see text]  L(-1) d(-1)) was observed with an initial optical density of 0.221 and 244 μmolE m(-)² s(-1) light and the model allows to determine N removal between 15.9 and 22.7 mgN- [Formula: see text]  L(-1) d(-1) in real conditions according to the dilution level of the influent and related color. Changes in the microalgae community were monitored and revealed the advantage of Chlorella over Scenedesmus under light-limitation. Additionally microalgae outcompeted nitrifying bacteria and experiments showed how microalgae become better competitors for nutrients when phosphorus is limiting. Furthermore, nitrification was limited by microalgae growth, even when P was not limiting.

Addressing the challenges for sustainable production of algal biofuels: I. Algal strains and nutrient supply

Microalgae hold promise for the production of sustainable replacement of fossil fuels due to their high growth rates, ability to grow on non-arable land and their high content, under the proper conditions, of high energy compounds that can be relatively easily chemically converted to fuels using existing technology. However, projected large-scale algal production raises a number of sustainability concerns concerning land use, net energy return, water use and nutrient supply. The state-of-the-art of algal production of biofuels is presented with emphasis on some possible avenues to provide answers to the sustainability questions that have been raised. Here, issues concerning algal strains and supply of nutrients for large-scale production are discussed. Since sustainability concerns necessitate the use of wastewaters for supply of bulk nutrients, emphasis is placed on the composition and suitability of different wastewater streams. At the same time, algal cultivation has proven useful in waste treatment processes, and thus this aspect is also treated in some detail.

High efficient treatment of citric acid effluent by Chlorella vulgaris and potential biomass utilization

The efficiency of treating citric acid effluent by green algae Chlorella was investigated. With the highest growth rate, Chlorella vulgaris C9-JN2010 that could efficiently remove nutrients in the citric acid effluent was selected for scale-up batch experiments under the optimal conditions, where its maximum biomass was 1.04 g l(-1) and removal efficiencies of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, total organic carbon, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand) were above 90.0%. Algal lipid and protein contents were around 340.0 and 500.0 mg · g(-1) of the harvested biomass, respectively. Proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the lipids and eight kinds of essential amino acids in algal protein were 74.0% and 40.0%, respectively. Three major fatty acids were hexadecanoic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosadienoic acid. This specific effluent treatment process could be proposed as a dual-beneficial approach, which converts nutrients in the high strength citric acid effluent into profitable byproducts and reduces the contaminations.

Mass cultivation of microalgae on animal wastewater: a sequential two-stage cultivation process for energy crop and omega-3-rich animal feed production

In this study, 97 microalgal strains purchased from algae bank and 50 microalgal strains isolated from local waters in Minnesota were screened for their adaptability growing on a 20-fold diluted digested swine manure wastewater (DSMW). A pool of candidate strains well adapted to the DSMW was established through a high-throughput screening process. Two top-performing facultative heterotrophic strains with high growth rate (0.536 day(-1) for UMN 271 and 0.433 day(-1) for UMN 231) and one strain with high omega-3 unsaturated fatty acid (EPA, 3.75 % of total fatty acids for UMN 231) were selected. Subsequently, a sequential two-stage mixo-photoautotrophic culture strategy was developed for biofuel and animal feed production as well as simultaneous swine wastewater treatment using above two strains. The maximal biomass concentration and lipid content at the first and second stages reached 2.03 g/L and 23.0 %, and 0.83 g/L and 19.0 % for UMN 271 and UMN 231, respectively. The maximal nutrient removals for total phosphorus and ammonia after second-stage cultivation were 100 and 89.46 %, respectively. The experiments showed that this sequential two-stage cultivation process has great potential for economically viable and environmentally friendly production of both renewable biofuel and high-value animal feed and at the same time for animal wastewater treatment.

Microalgae and wastewater treatment

Organic and inorganic substances which were released into the environment as a result of domestic, agricultural and industrial water activities lead to organic and inorganic pollution. The normal primary and secondary treatment processes of these wastewaters have been introduced in a growing number of places, in order to eliminate the easily settled materials and to oxidize the organic material present in wastewater. The final result is a clear, apparently clean effluent which is discharged into natural water bodies. This secondary effluent is, however, loaded with inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus and causes eutrophication and more long-term problems because of refractory organics and heavy metals that are discharged. Microalgae culture offers an interesting step for wastewater treatments, because they provide a tertiary biotreatment coupled with the production of potentially valuable biomass, which can be used for several purposes. Microalgae cultures offer an elegant solution to tertiary and quandary treatments due to the ability of microalgae to use inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus for their growth. And also, for their capacity to remove heavy metals, as well as some toxic organic compounds, therefore, it does not lead to secondary pollution. In the current review we will highlight on the role of micro-algae in the treatment of wastewater.

Nitrogen transformations under different conditions in open ponds by means of microalgae-bacteria consortium treating pig slurry

Four open ponds inoculated with microalgae-bacteria consortium treating different swine slurries (fresh and anaerobically digested) were evaluated in terms of nitrogen transformation under optimal and real conditions of temperature and illumination. Ammonium complete depletion was not achieved. Ponds operated under real conditions presented lower ammonium removal. Elimination capacities were around 26 mg N/Ld and were subsequently increased with increasing inlet ammonium loading rate. Different nitrogen transformation was observed depending on substrate source. When anaerobically digested slurry was fed to the ponds, nitrification followed by biomass uptake and denitrification were the main nitrogen transformation taking place depending on inlet ammonium loading rate and operational conditions. Ponds fed with fresh slurry exhibited denitrification as the main nitrogen removal mechanism for the pond operated under real conditions while under optimal conditions stripping, denitrification and biomass uptake contributed similarly. Therefore, this study confirmed that the so-claimed nitrogen recovery by microalgae biomass is frequently overestimated.

Influence of nutrient loads, feeding frequency and inoculum source on growth of Chlorella vulgaris in digested piggery effluent culture medium

Large amount of waste produced in the livestock industry could be reused to produce valuable products such as microalgae, which are used predominantly in the primary treatment of wastewater for bioremediation. In this study digested piggery effluent was used as nutrient source to substitute mineral nutrients for culturing feed grade Chlorella vulgaris. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) levels, inoculum mediums and the feeding frequencies on the performance of C. vulgaris. The first experimental results showed that 20mg TAN/l in the culture media resulted in better algal SGR (0.345/day; P>0.05). The adding 200 ml effluent into 10 l culture medium at the start (20.6 mg TAN/l) in the second experiment resulted in a large increase of algal population from day 1 to 6 and reached 11.9 million algae/ml at day 6. This study indicated that high production of C. vulgaris could be achieved at short time by feeding digested effluent once.

Production of biomass (algae-bacteria) by using a mixture of settled swine and sewage as substrate

This paper presents the use of a mixture of settled swine and sewage as substrate for biomass production, mainly constituted by microalgae Chlorella vulgaris and aerobic bacteria, growing outdoor at different dilution rates in a continuous mode. The experiments were carried out in 16-litre volume laboratory ponds operating at hydraulic retention times (HRT) in a range of 4-14 days equivalent to dilution rates (D) in a range of 0.250-0.071 d(-1). Total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD), soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), total biochemical oxygen demand (TBOD(5)), total suspended solids (TSS), volatile suspended solids (VSS), total Chlorophyll (S C), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), ammonia nitrogen, total phosphorous, orthophosphate and pH were monitored. An empirical relationship between the dilution rate (D) and the removal efficiencies of TCOD, SCOD, TBOD(5), TKN and total phosphorous was found. The occurrence of an inhibition process for TCOD, TBOD(5), TKN and total phosphorous removals was observed. The Andrews kinetic model was successfully applied to these experimental data, while the Monod model was more suitable for studying the variation of the SCOD removal rate with the effluent SCOD concentration. The maximum microalgal biomass productivity was found to be in the range of 93-98 mg VSS(A)/L d (37.2-39.2 g/m(2)d) at dilution rates in the range of 0.167-0.250 d(-1), where VSS(A) is the concentration of microalgae expressed in VSS. In the case of the bacteria, the productivity increased linearly with the dilution rate being maximum at a D value of 0.25 d(-1). It was concluded that the mixture of pre-treated swine and sewage used as substrate, contributed to the obtention of a high biomass (microalgae-bacteria) production, providing a simple technology feasible to be applied in developing countries.

The potential applications of cyanobacterial photosynthesis for clean technologies

Natural photosynthesis may be adapted to advantage in the development of clean energy technologies. Efficient biocatalysts that can be used in solar energy conversion technologies are the cyanobacteria. Photobioreactors incorporating cyanobacteria have been used to demonstrate (a) the production of hydrogen gas, (b) the assimilation of CO2 with the production of algal biomass, (c) the excretion of ammonium, and (d) the removal of nitrate and phosphate from contaminated waters.

Growth of Phormidium sp. in aerobic secondary piggery waste-water

The potential of a cyanobacterium Phormidium sp., for the tertiary treatment of piggery waste-water chemical oxygen demand > or = 3000 mg.l-1, using an aerobically stabilized secondary effluent, was studied. Batch cultures were carried out in 2-l glass reactors and in a 30-l glass-fibre carousel reactor. The nutrient removal efficiency as well as biomass production were compared in synthetic mineral medium and in different concentrations of aerobically stabilized piggery effluent. The best performance of Phormidium sp. occurred in diluted stabilized secondary effluent (1:1). Removal efficiencies were 100% for P-PO4(-3), 50% for N-NH4+ and 35% for N-NO3- in small-volume cultures; and 31% for P-PO4(-3), 100% for N-NH4+ and 70% for N-NO3- in an open carousel reactor. Biomass production on the aerobically stabilized effluent was six times higher in the 2-l reactors and 1.7 times higher in the carousel reactor when compared to the synthetic medium.