An Interactive Tool for Simulation of Biological Models Into the Wastewater Treatment With Microalgae

Abstract

This paper presents a novel simulation tool to understand and analyze biological models for wastewater treatment processes using microalgae. The models for this type of processes are very complex to be analyzed because of the very different phenomena, variables and parameters involved. The model already included in the tool has been validated at controlled conditions simulating outdoor ones, it being useful to simulate real outdoor cultures. The major contribution of the proposed tool is that these models can be easily and interactively simulated and compared. The tool allows simulating biological models only considering microalgae or including the microalgae-bacteria consortium. Moreover, the simulations can be done only using the solar radiation contribution or by adding the environmental and bacteria effects as cardinal terms. Furthermore, the effects of the wastewater properties or different microalgae strains can be evaluated. The interactive simulations can be performed for selected days as representative of the different year seasons that are already preloaded in the tool. However, the user can also load data from other locations to simulate the models under particular conditions.

Year-long evaluation of microalgae production in wastewater using pilot-scale raceway photobioreactors: Assessment of biomass productivity and nutrient recovery capacity

“…where 𝑃 𝑂 2 is the oxygen productivity (g•m -2 •day -1 ), 𝑃 𝑂 2 𝐴𝐿𝐺 is the oxygen produced during photosynthesis by microalgae (g•m -2 •day -1 ), 𝑅 𝑂 2 𝐻𝐸𝑇 is the oxygen consumed by heterotrophic bacteria during respiration (g•m -2 •day -1 ), and 𝑅 𝑂 2 𝑁𝐼𝑇 is the oxygen consumed by nitrifying bacteria during respiration (g•m -2 •day -1 ). How the solar radiation, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, concentration of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and phosphorus affect the specific growth rate of the culture as well as oxygen productivity is describes in previous reports [28,29]. The processes was modelled in triplicate and compared against experimental data obtained when operating the reactors in semi-continuous mode with a dilution rate of 0.2 day -1 .…”

Optimizing resource recovery from wastewater with algae-bacteria membrane reactors

“…Concentrating the algae in the system leads to a higher light attenuation and therefore, to a lower growth rate. In such a complex situation, a multi-parametric optimization must be carried out and the guidance of mathematical models has already proven very useful [22], [23]. This is especially decisive in the case of complex dynamical bioprocesses involving a large range of interacting species, like for anaerobic digestion [24].…”

Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in Membrane-Treated Industrial Distillery Wastewater: Growth and Wastewater Treatment

“…As a kind of eukaryotic green microalgae with strong photosynthesis ability, Chlorella is considered as one of the easily cultivated microalgae that contains high-quality protein, carotenoids, vitamins, and minerals, it has long been proposed as a healthy food substitute for humans and animals (Liu et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2014;Znad et al, 2018). The use of Chlorella for wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery reduces cost of wastewater treatment, and production of useful biomass (Sánchez-Zurano et al, 2021). In recent years, cultivation of microalgae especially Chlorella vulgaris in wastewater have attracted more and more attention.…”