Phytorremediation of urban and fish farming wastewater and growth performance responses of Litopenaeus vannamei using microalgae Chlorella vulgaris

Abstract

Phytoremediation, as the implementation of microalgae in the treatment of effluents, is used to remove nitrogen compounds and phosphorus that can cause eutrophication in receiving water bodies. The present study evaluated the phytoremediation of urban and fish farming wastewater and growth performance of Litopenaeus vannamei using microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. Microalgae were cultivated stationary with three treatments: T1 sewage treatment station effluent (STS), T2 fish farming effluent (FF) and T3 with standard medium (SM) Guillard f/2), conducted in quintuplicate for each culture medium, using a 20 L carboy for eight days. 5.0 L inoculum (25%) plus 15 L culture medium, T1 STS, T2 FF and T3 SM (75% of each) were used to start the experiment. The shrimp experiment was realized with three treatments in quintuplicates, completely randomized design, during 15 days. The animals were maintained in tanks of 100 L under constantly aerated, resulting in a concentration above 5.0 mg L− 1 of dissolved oxygen, in a density of 70 animals m-3, fed four times per day (8:00, 11:00, 14:00 and 16:00 h) offering to T1 commercial feed (C-Feed) with 35% crude protein, T2 and T3 with commercial feed plus addition of 5.0% dry biomass of C. vulgaris. The best result for algal perfomance, lipid biomass and nutrient removal was with Fish farm wastewater. The additive with the highest performance was FF-Feed. C. vulgaris has a high potential for removing nutrients from wastewater, producing biomass and lipids, in addition to increasing shrimp productivity.