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Nutrient Recovery from Wastewaters Using Microalgae-Based Systems and Potential Applications of the Produced Biomass

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (18 April 2023) | Viewed by 18415

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Christina N. Economou

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Rio, GR-26504 Patras, Greece
Interests: cyanobacteria-based microbial consortia; microalgae; wastewater treatment; nutrient removal; bioactive compounds

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wastewater treatment using microalgae (including cyanobacteria)-based systems is currently a promising alternative to conventional biological treatment processes such as activated sludge. Microalgae-based wastewater treatment has gained significant research momentum as it can achieve high removal rates of both organic and inorganic nutrients. Additionally, biomass produced from the treatment process can be used to generate microalgae-based products (e.g., biofuels, biofertilizers, bioplastics, etc.) according to circular economy principles. As the physicochemical characteristics of wastewaters and photobioreactor operating conditions affect biomass growth rates, current research is still facing challenges to optimize these bioprocesses and achieve maximum nutrient recovery from different wastewater types thus making microalgae-based treatment systems sustainable at industrial scale.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest achievements and trends in research within the fields of wastewater treatment using microalgae (including cyanobacteria) as monoculture or microalgae-based microbial consortia and the exploitation of the biomass generated by these systems. This Special Issue will also bring together technologies for the appropriate design and operation of photobioreactors leading to maximum biomass production and nutrient removal from wastewaters.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following topics: wastewater bioremediation, biomass utilization, bioactive products, photobioreactor design and operation.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Christina N. Economou
Guest Editor

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Keywords

wastewater treatment
microalgae-bacteria consortia
microalgae
cyanobacteria
biomass characterization
microalgae-based products
photobioreactors
operating parameters
nutrient removal

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1810 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mathematical Modeling of Microalgal Growth during Anaerobic Digestion Effluent Bioremediation

by Georgios Manthos, Eleni Koutra, Savvas Giannis Mastropetros, Dimitris Zagklis and Michael Kornaros

Water 2022, 14(23), 3938; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14233938 - 3 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2580

Abstract

The development of kinetic models aims at predicting the behavior of a system or analyzing the underlying mechanisms. This process is essential for understanding microalgal growth and optimizing culture conditions. In the case of microalgal cultivation in wastewater, the analysis becomes even more difficult as growth is often inhibited by several factors, such as nutrient limitation and light inadequacy. In this context, a mathematical model was developed to describe the microbial growth of the species Parachlorella kessleri in different reactor setups using either sterile or non-sterile anaerobic digestion effluent as a substrate. Three different mass balances were taken into consideration to describe biomass growth, phosphorus, and nitrogen consumption. Concerning biomass growth, the logistic model was applied to evaluate the inhibition in biomass formation due to lack of illumination. The maximum optical density under which these species could grow was quantified with an OD_max parameter, which was estimated at 4.07 AU/cm for the Erlenmeyer flask and 2.79 AU/cm for cylindrical photobioreactors. Regarding the nitrogen mass balance, two different terms concerning microalgal assimilation and ammonia stripping were implemented into the equation. The proposed model predicted biomass growth with high accuracy in model training (R² = 0.90) and validation (R² = 0.89). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Recovery from Wastewaters Using Microalgae-Based Systems and Potential Applications of the Produced Biomass)

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27 pages, 1513 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Optimization of Cultivation Conditions for Tetraselmis striata and Biomass Quality Evaluation for Fish Feed Production

by Vasiliki Patrinou, Alexandra Daskalaki, Dimitris Kampantais, Dimitris C. Kanakis, Christina N. Economou, Dimitris Bokas, Yannis Kotzamanis, George Aggelis, Dimitris V. Vayenas and Athanasia G. Tekerlekopoulou

Water 2022, 14(19), 3162; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14193162 - 7 Oct 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5017

Abstract

The marine microalgae Tetraselmis striata was cultivated in drilling waters with different salinities. Growth substrate optimization was performed while the effects of different pH, temperature, photoperiod and CO₂ flow rate on biomass productivity and its composition were studied. Results showed that the strain grew better in 2.8% drilling waters employing the fertilizer Nutri-Leaf together with ΝaHCO₃. A pH value of 8 resulted in high biomass productivity (79.8 mg L⁻¹ d⁻¹) and biomass composition (proteins 51.2% d.w., carbohydrates 14.6% d.w., lipids 27.8% d.w. and total chlorophylls 5.1% d.w.). The optimum cultivation temperature was found to be 25 ± 1 °C which further enhanced biomass productivity (93.7 mg L⁻¹ d⁻¹) and composition (proteins 38.7% d.w., carbohydrates 20.4% d.w., lipids 30.2% d.w., total chlorophylls 5.1% d.w.). Photoperiod experiments showed that continuous illumination was essential for biomass production. A 10 mL min⁻¹ flow rate of CO₂ lead to biomass productivity of 87.5 mg L⁻¹ d⁻¹ and high intracellular content (proteins 44.6% d.w., carbohydrates 10.3% d.w., lipids 27.3% d.w., total chlorophylls 5.2% d.w.). Applying the optimum growth conditions, the produced biomass presented high protein content with adequate amino acids and high percentages of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), indicating its suitability for incorporation into conventional fish feeds. In addition, this study analyzed how functional parameters may influence the uptake of nutrients by Tetraselmis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Recovery from Wastewaters Using Microalgae-Based Systems and Potential Applications of the Produced Biomass)

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20 pages, 1354 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pig Slaughterhouse Wastewater: Medium Culture for Microalgae Biomass Generation as Raw Material in Biofuel Industries

by Johanna Medrano-Barboza, Kevin Herrera-Rengifo, Alberto Aguirre-Bravo, José Rubén Ramírez-Iglesias, Rosalía Rodríguez and Victoria Morales

Water 2022, 14(19), 3016; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14193016 - 25 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2724

Abstract

Microalgae are photosynthetic microorganisms with high lipid content, capable of degrading nutrients from wastewater. In this research, two strains of microalgae, Scenedesmus sp. and Chlorella vulgaris were cultivated in sterilized pig slaughterhouse wastewater using outdoor flat photobioreactors. Cell growth, total lipids, free fatty acids (FFA), fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and physicochemical parameters of wastewater were measured. The results indicated that pig slaughterhouse wastewater is adequate to grow these species of microalgae, obtaining a higher biomass growth for Scenedesmus sp. compared to Chlorella vulgaris (0.41 g/L vs. 0.2 g/L); additionally, these species can be used in bioremediation processes due to the nutrient removal achieved in terms of Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorous (TP) and Total Organic Carbon (TOC). Methylcyclohexane, chloroform: methanol (1:2) and ethyl acetate had better yield of lipids and FFA. The percentages of FAMEs from FFA were in the range of 52.5–89.5 wt% for Scenedesmus sp. and for Chlorella vulgaris from 52–80.5 wt%. Although the values of lipids, FFA and FAME are below of the range reported by other authors, the use of this type of wastewater as culture medium for the two species cannot be ruled out for lipid extraction in biofuel production. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Recovery from Wastewaters Using Microalgae-Based Systems and Potential Applications of the Produced Biomass)

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14 pages, 846 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

The Effect of Trophic Modes on Biomass and Lipid Production of Five Microalgal Strains

by Andonia Nicodemou, Michalis Kallis, Anastasia Agapiou, Androulla Markidou and Michalis Koutinas

Water 2022, 14(2), 240; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020240 - 14 Jan 2022

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3274

Abstract

Five microalgae strains, namely Isochrysis galbana, Microchloropsis gaditana, Scenedesmus obliquus, Nannochloropsis oculata and Tetraselmis suecica, were selected as potential candidates for polyunsaturated fatty acids’ production, evaluating biomass productivity and their capacity to accumulate high lipid contents under different trophic modes. Microalgae strains were cultivated in the presence of 1% glucose using mixotrophic and heterotrophic conditions, while autotrophic cultures served as control experiments. The results demonstrate that S. obliquus performed the highest biomass productivity that reached 0.13 and 0.14 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹ under mixotrophic and heterotrophic conditions, respectively. I. galbana and S. obliquus utilized elevated contents of glucose in mixotrophy, removing 55.9% and 95.6% of the initial concentration of the carbohydrate, respectively, while glucose consumption by the aforementioned strains also remained high under heterotrophic cultivation. The production of lipids was maximal for I. galbana in mixotrophy and S. obliquus in heterotrophy, performing lipid productivities of 24.85 and 22.77 mg L⁻¹ d⁻¹, respectively. The most abundant saturated acid detected for all microalgae strains evaluated was palmitic acid (C16:0), while oleic and linolenic acids (C18:1n9c/C18:3n3) comprised the most abundant unsaturated fatty acids. I. galbana performed the highest linoleic acid (C18:2n6c) content under heterotrophic nutrition, which reached 87.9 mg g⁻¹ of ash-free dry weight. Among the microalgae strains compared, the biomass and lipid production monitored for I. galbana and S. obliquus confirm that both strains could serve as efficient bioproducers for application in algal biorefineries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Recovery from Wastewaters Using Microalgae-Based Systems and Potential Applications of the Produced Biomass)

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24 pages, 2855 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Assessment of Nutrients Recovery Capacity and Biomass Growth of Four Microalgae Species in Anaerobic Digestion Effluent

by Paraskevi Psachoulia, Sofia-Natalia Schortsianiti, Urania Lortou, Spyros Gkelis, Christos Chatzidoukas and Petros Samaras

Water 2022, 14(2), 221; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020221 - 12 Jan 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3387

Abstract

Four microalgae species were evaluated for their bioremediation capacity of anaerobic digestion effluent (ADE) rich in ammonium nitrogen, derived from a biogas plant. Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorella sorokiniana, Desmodesmus communis and Stichococcus sp. were examined for their nutrient assimilation efficiency, biomass production and composition through their cultivation in 3.7% v/v ADE; their performance was compared with standard cultivation media which consisted in different nitrogen sources, i.e., BG-11_NO3 and BG-11_ΝH4 where N-NO₃ was replaced by N-NH₄. The results justified ammonium as the most preferable source of nitrogen for microalgae growth. Although Stichococcus sp. outperformed the other 3 species in N-NH₄ removal efficiency both in BG-11_NH4 and in 3.7% ADE (reaching up to 90.79% and 69.69% respectively), it exhibited a moderate biomass production when it was cultivated in diluted ADE corresponding to 0.59 g/L, compared to 0.89 g/L recorded by C. vulgaris and 0.7 g/L by C. sorokiniana and D. communis. Phosphorus contained in the effluent and in the control media was successfully consumed by all of the species, although its removal rate was found to be affected by the type of nitrogen source used and the particular microalgae species. The use of ADE as cultivation medium resulted in a significant increase in carbohydrates content in all investigated species. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Recovery from Wastewaters Using Microalgae-Based Systems and Potential Applications of the Produced Biomass)

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