Comparison of single strain, natural algal communities and a native algal bloom: Application for wastewater treatment and biomass generation in cassava biogas effluent

Abstract

Phycoremediation of Chlorella sorokiniana P21 as indigenous strain (P21), four algal communities from different wastewater treatment ponds (P1, P2, P3 and P4) and a native algal bloom (CTRL) were examined to treat cassava biogas effluent wastewater (CBEW) and generate algal biomass. All cultures showed higher biomass production in unsterilized CBEW than in the sterilized CBEW, whereas nutrient removal efficiency was not significantly different in both conditions for all cultures. Verhulst kinetics models showed P21 culture has the highest maximum biomass (1440.94 mg L−1), whereas P3 showed the highest growth rate (0.68 day−1). The removal efficiencies of these cultures for nitrate, phosphate and chemical oxygen demand were above 75%. Iron coagulants attained the removal to be more than 90% only in P21 culture. Indigenous and algal community cultures had similar potencies to treat wastewater, and thus, this result showed vast potency of phycoremediation using various inoculum sources.