Feasibility of Algal Systems for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment

Selvaratnam, Thinesh; Pegallapati, Ambica; Montelya, Felly; Rodriguez, G.; Khandan, Nirmala; Lammers, Peter J.; Voorhies, Wayne Van

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-05708-8_4

Cited by 13 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Previous reports by the authors have documented the ability of GS to grow in primary effluent at rates comparable to that in standard artificial growth medium, achieving high nutrient removal efficiencies at removal rates comparable to other strains [25,26]. This paper presents a process model of the POWER system and simulated performance curves.…”

Section: Proposed System For Algal Wastewater Treatment/energy Producmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maximizing recovery of energy and nutrients from urban wastewaters

Selvaratnam

Henkanatte-Gedera

Muppaneni

et al. 2016

Energy

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Historically, urban wastewaters (UWWs) that contain high levels of organic carbon, nitrogen (N), and phosphorous (P) have been considered an environmental burden and have been treated at the expense of significant energy input. With the advent of new pollution abatement technologies, UWWs are now being regarded as a renewable resource from which, useful chemicals and energy could be harvested. This study proposes an integrated, algal-based system that has the potential to treat UWWs to the desired discharge standards in a sustainable manner while recovering high fraction of its energycontent as well as its and N-and P-contents for use as fertilizers. Key embodiments of the system being proposed are: i) cultivation of an extremophile microalga, Galdieria sulphuraria, in UWW for removal of carbon, N, and P via single-step by mixotrophic metabolism; ii) extraction of energy-rich biocrude and biochar from the cultivated biomass via hydrothermal processing; and, iii) enhancement of biomass productivity via partial recycling of the nutrient-rich aqueous product (AP) from hydrothermal-processed biomass to the cultivation step to optimize productivity, and formulation of fertilizers from the remaining AP. This paper presents a process model to simulate this integrated system, identify the optimal process conditions, and establish ranges for operational parameters.

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Section: Proposed System For Algal Wastewater Treatment/energy Producmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maximizing recovery of energy and nutrients from urban wastewaters

Selvaratnam

Henkanatte-Gedera

Muppaneni

et al. 2016

Energy

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“…In the past decade, microalga-based systems have gained interest as alternatives for wastewater treatment (Selvaratnam et al 2015). Microalgae can be grown using wastewaters as growth media since wastewaters are rich in nutrients such as ammonium (NH 4 + ), nitrate (NO 3 − ), and phosphate (PO 4 3− ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stable wastewater treatment with Neochloris oleoabundans in a tubular photobioreactor

2019

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The potential of a wastewater treatment and biomass production process with the green microalgae Neochloris oleoabundans in a 45-L tubular photobioreactor was tested. In a stable and reliable alga-based process, wastewaters should undergo pre-treatment to remove colored substances. Our data show that further optimization steps may be required, such as adjustment of the N:P ratio and addition of essential metals. As a final result, parameters were established for a continuous-mode photobioreactor run with optimized wastewater for five times the hydraulic retention time (157 h) at the dry biomass concentration of 0.47 ± 0.03 g L −1 . During that period, 75% and 99.6% removal efficiencies for NH 4 + and PO 4 3− , respectively, were achieved.

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“…The potential for net energy production with inclusion of microalgae was discussed by [18], based on the potential for biomass production per nutrient uptake and biomass biogas potential; however, no overall process energy balance was presented. Sturm and Lamer [19] studied the energy balance of systems with the cultivation of microalgae in open ponds for nutrient removal of effluent water from a wastewater treatment plant followed by biodiesel production from the algae and showed positive energy balances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of energy balance and carbon dioxide emission for microalgae introduction in wastewater treatment plants

et al. 2017

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A case study is described in which the activated sludge process is replaced with a microalgae-activated sludge process. The effects on the heat and electricity consumption and carbon dioxide emissions were evaluated in a system model, based on mass and energy balances of biological treatment and sludge handling process steps. Data for use in the model was gathered from three wastewater treatment plants in Sweden. The evaluation showed that the introduction of microalgae could reduce electricity and heat consumption as well as CO2 emissions but would require large land areas. The study concludes that a 12-fold increase in the basin surface area would result in reductions of 26-35% in electricity consumption, 7-32% in heat consumption and 22-54% in carbon dioxide emissions. This process may be suitable for wastewater treatment plants in Nordic countries, where there is a higher organic load in summer than at other times of the year. During the summer period (May to August) electricity consumption was reduced by 50-68%, heat consumption was reduced by 13-63% and carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 43-103%.

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Feasibility of Algal Systems for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment

Cited by 13 publications

References 12 publications

Maximizing recovery of energy and nutrients from urban wastewaters

Maximizing recovery of energy and nutrients from urban wastewaters

Stable wastewater treatment with Neochloris oleoabundans in a tubular photobioreactor

Simulation of energy balance and carbon dioxide emission for microalgae introduction in wastewater treatment plants

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