The effect of varying LED light sources and influent carbon/nitrogen ratios on treatment of synthetic sanitary sewage using Chlorella vulgaris

Abstract

Sanitary sewage can create serious environmental problems if discharged directly into natural waters without appropriate treatment. This study showed that red light is the optimum light wavelength for growing microalgae Chlorella vulgaris in microalgae biological wastewater treatment systems, given a harvest time of 144 h. Only moderate light intensities (1,000, 1,500, 2,000, and 2,500 μmol m(-2) s(-1)) were able to remove nutrients from synthetic sanitary sewage, but higher light intensity led to better nutri…