Abstract
In this study, the ability of microalgae Chlorella kessleri to remove nutrients, biofix CO2, and generate valuable biomass was investigated. For this purpose, CO2 at different concentrations was added to the synthetic tertiary municipal wastewater for cultivating C. kessleri in batch photobioreactors. The concentration of biomass increases gradually during the cultivation period for the tested CO2 concentrations of 2%, 6%, and 10%, except 0% CO2. The highest biomass concentration found was 607 mg/L, and the highest biomass productivity is 46 mg/L/day, at a CO2 concentration of 2%. Monod growth kinetic model based on a single substrate factor was used, and the experimental findings agree well with the predictions by the model for all feed concentrations except 0% CO2. Biofixation of CO2 depends on the optimal CO2 concentration supplied to the culture. The maximum biofixation rate of CO2 achieved at 2% CO2 is 83.88 mg/L/day. The maximum removal of total nitrogen of 99% was achieved for both 2% and 10% CO2, while the total nitrogen removal is negligible by microalgae cultured with air without CO2 enrichment, which confirms the beneficial effect of CO2 on the removal of nutrients from wastewater media. These findings indicate the possibility of nutrient removal from tertiary municipal wastewater using microalgae C. kessleri along with CO2 biofixation.
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Abbreviations
- OD:
-
Optical density
- BBM:
-
Bold’s Basal Medium
- \( \mu_{\text{g}} \) :
-
Specific growth rate
- \( \mu_{\text{m}} \) :
-
Maximum specific growth rate
- \( P_{\text{B}} \) :
-
Biomass productivity (mg/L/day)
- \( X_{1} \;{\text{and}}\;X_{2} \) :
-
Biomass weight (mg/L) at the time \( t_{1} \) and \( t_{2} \)
- \( X_{0} \;{\text{and}}\;X_{t} \) :
-
Biomass weight (mg/L) at the initial time, \( t_{0} \) and at the end of the cultivation period \( t_{t} \)
- \( R_{{{\text{CO}}_{2} }} \) :
-
CO2 biofixation rate (mg/L/day)
- \( C_{\text{carbon}} \) :
-
Carbon content
- \( M_{{{\text{CO}}_{2} }} \) :
-
Molecular weight of CO2
- \( M_{\text{c}} \) :
-
Atomic weight of carbon
- d:
-
Day
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Authors would like to acknowledge the support received from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) along with internal direct funding grant and financial support for this work through Project No. DF191050.
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Faruque, M.O., Mohammed, K.A., Hossain, M.M. et al. Influence of elevated CO2 concentrations on growth, nutrient removal, and CO2 biofixation using Chlorella kessleri cultivation. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 18, 913–926 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02909-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02909-4