Study of microalgae (Scenedesmus Sp.) utilization as phosphate bioremediator (PO43-) in domestic wastewater medium

Abstract

In this research, the use of Scenedesmus sp. as a phosphate bioremediator agent is expected to be applied for lowering the phosphate levels in the water as well as improving the quality of the environment. Scenedesmus sp. used in this research was isolated from Sungai Cideng. Variation of phosphates were tested to see the effect of various types of phosphate found in the waters in the form of a variation of organic phosphates using the Adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP), phytic acid and variation of inorganic phosphates using potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4) and sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP). It was found that the use of monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4) was better in decreasing phosphate levels and increasing the number of Scenedesmus sp. cells with a phosphate decrease percentage of 87.5 %. Phosphate test was performed using UV-Vis spectroscopy instrumentation and the abundance of cell count was performed using a microscope and hemocytometer. The environmental quality test parameters are temperature and pH. Direct application in wastewater from Muara Angke was also found the decrease of phosphate levels and increase the number of Scenedesmus sp. cells. Scenedesmus sp. has the ability to reduce nutrients in wastewater to below wastewater quality standard of 86.0 % from the initial phosphate concentration of 0.2255 ppm to 0.0314 ppm.