Stable wastewater treatment with Neochloris oleoabundans in a tubular photobioreactor

Abstract

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 NH4+ and PO43−, respectively, were achieved.