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Cyanobacteria blooms are a risk to environmental health and public safety due to the potent toxins certain cyanobacteria can produce. These nuisance organisms can be removed from water bodies by biomass flocculation and sedimentation. Here, we studied the efficacy of combinations of a low dose coagulant (poly-aluminium chloride—PAC—or chitosan) with different ballast compounds (red soil, bauxite, gravel, aluminium modified zeolite and lanthanum modified bentonite) to remove cyanobacterial biomass from water collected in Funil Reservoir (Brazil). We tested the effect of different cyanobacterial biomass concentrations on removal efficiency. We also examined if zeta potential was altered by treatments. Addition of low doses of PAC and chitosan (1–8 mg Al L-1) to the cyanobacterial suspensions caused flock formation, but did not settle the cyanobacteria. When those low dose coagulants were combined with ballast, effective settling in a dose-dependent way up to 99.7% removal of the flocks could be achieved without any effect on the zeta potential and thus without potential membrane damage. Removal efficacy was influenced by the cyanobacterial biomass and at higher biomass more ballast was needed to achieve good removal. The combined coagulant-ballast technique provides a promising alternative to algaecides in lakes, ponds and reservoirs.

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Combining coagulant and ballast to remove cyanobacteria from the water column is a promising restoration technique to mitigate cyanobacterial nuisance in surface waters. The organic, biodegradable polymer chitosan has been promoted as a coagulant and is viewed as non-toxic. In this study, we show that chitosan may rapidly compromise membrane integrity and kill certain cyanobacteria leading to release of cell contents in the water. A strain of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii and one strain of Planktothrix agardhii were most sensitive. A 1.3 h exposure to a low dose of 0.5 mg l chitosan already almost completely killed these cultures resulting in release of cell contents. After 24 h, reductions in PSII efficiencies of all cyanobacteria tested were observed. EC50 values varied from around 0.5 mg l chitosan for the two sensitive strains, via about 5 mg l chitosan for an Aphanizomenon flos-aquae strain, a toxic P. agardhii strain and two Anabaena cylindrica cultures, to more than 8 mg l chitosan for a Microcystis aeruginosa strain and another A. flos-aquae strain. Differences in sensitivity to chitosan might be related to polymeric substances that surround cyanobacteria. Rapid lysis of toxic strains is likely and when chitosan flocking and sinking of cyanobacteria is considered in lake restoration, flocculation efficacy studies should be complemented with investigation on the effects of chitosan on the cyanobacteria assemblage being targeted.

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The release of phosphorus (P) stored in the sediment may cause long-term delay in the recovery of lakes, ponds, and lagoons from eutrophication. In this paper, we tested on a laboratory scale the efficacy of the flocculant polyaluminium chloride (PAC) and a strong P-binding agent (lanthanum-modified bentonite, LMB) on their ability to flocculate a cyanobacterial bloom and hamper P release from a hypertrophic, brackish lagoon sediment. In addition, critical P loading was estimated through PCLake. We showed that cyanobacteria could be effectively settled using a PAC dose of 2 mg Al L −1 combined with 400-mg L −1 LMB; PAC 8 mg Al L −1 alone could also remove cyanobacteria, although its performance was improved adding low concentrations of LMB. The efficacy of LMB to bind P released from the sediment was tested based on potentially available sediment P. A dose of 400 g LMB m −2 significantly reduced the P release from sediment to over-standing water (either deionized water or water from the lagoon with and without cyanobacteria). In sediment cores, LMB + PAC reduced sediment P flux from 9.9 (± 3.3) to − 4.6 (± 0.3) mg P m −2 day −1 for the experimental period of 3 months. The internal P load was 14 times higher than the estimated P critical load (0.7 mg P m −2 day −1), thus even if all the external P sources would be ceased, the water quality will not improve promptly. Hence, the combined LMB + PAC treatment seems a promising in-lake intervention to diminish internal P load bellow the critical load. Such intervention is able to speed up recovery in the brackish lagoon once external loading has been tackled and at a cost of less than 5% of the estimated dredging costs.

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