Viability of the uses of effluent for cultivation of chlorella vulgaris in order to integrate the generation of biofuels with the treatment of water

Abstract

Microalgae constitutes an adequate environmental alternative: besides the accumulation of lipids, they capture CO2 of the atmosphere and absorb contaminants present in aquatic environments. This work used Chlorella vulgaris, cultivated in a pretreated wastewater effluent generated by Lorena School of Engineering. The tests were carried out with effluents collected on different days because of the variation of their concentration along the week. Chlorella vulgaris presented good adaptation to the university effluent, reaching a maximum cell density of 1.92 × 107 cells/mL and a dry biomass concentration of 1.74 g/L. It obtained satisfactory concentrations of lipids per gram of biomass (0.095–0.164 mg/g). In addition, it promotes nitrate removal rates between 54 and 78.74%, and COD reduction between 17.73 and 36.13%. The cultivation of the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris in effluent proved to be a good alternative to promote the accumulation of lipids and the improvement of water quality.