Evaluation of daily and seasonal variations in a semi-closed photobioreactor for microalgae-based bioremediation of agricultural runoff at full-scale

Díez-Montero, Rubén; Bělohlav, Vojtěch; Ortíz, Antonio; Uggetti, Enrica; García, Joan

doi:10.1016/j.algal.2020.101859

Cited by 34 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is also interesting to notice that at night, when DO is only consumed by respiration, DO concentration increases, as observed in similar open systems. 23 , 55 This apparently counterintuitive phenomenon, that the model was able to capture, is mainly due to the oxygen exchange with the atmosphere, that is enhanced at night by the increased oxygen solubility at lower temperatures. This results in a sufficient DO supply to support aerobic processes at night, i.e., the algal and bacterial respiration, which are, in turn, slowed down at lower temperatures.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing Microalgae and Nitrifiers for Wastewater Treatment: Can Inorganic Carbon Limitation Cause an Environmental Threat?

Casagli

Rossi

Steyer

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The first objective of this study is to assess the predictive capability of the ALBA (ALgae-BActeria) model for a pilot-scale (3.8 m 2 ) high-rate algae-bacteria pond treating agricultural digestate. The model, previously calibrated and validated on a one-year data set from a demonstrative-scale raceway (56 m 2 ), successfully predicted data from a six-month monitoring campaign with a different wastewater (urban wastewater) under different climatic conditions. Without changing any parameter value from the previous calibration, the model accurately predicted both online monitored variables (dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature) and off-line measurements (nitrogen compounds, algal biomass, total and volatile suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand). Supported by the universal character of the model, different scenarios under variable weather conditions were tested, to investigate the effect of key operating parameters (hydraulic retention time, pH regulation, k L a) on algae biomass productivity and nutrient removal efficiency. Surprisingly, despite pH regulation, a strong limitation for inorganic carbon was found to hinder the process efficiency and to generate conditions that are favorable for N 2 O emission. The standard operating parameters have a limited effect on this limitation, and alkalinity turns out to be the main driver of inorganic carbon availability. This investigation offers new insights in algae-bacteria processes and paves the way for the identification of optimal operational strategies.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing Microalgae and Nitrifiers for Wastewater Treatment: Can Inorganic Carbon Limitation Cause an Environmental Threat?

Casagli

Rossi

Steyer

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A demonstrator‐scale microalgae‐bacteria photobioreactor ( Chlorella sp., Stigeoclonium sp.) investigated seasonal impacts on the P recovery efficiencies showing underusage of P in summer and limited uptake in winter [36]. Here, the algae harvest can be supported in open ponds with algae scrubbers [37].…”

Section: P In Agricultural Runoffs and Crop Residuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, the algae harvest can be supported in open ponds with algae scrubbers [37]. Generally, algae biomass can be used to obtain bioproducts such as biopolymers, pigments, food additives [34], pharmaceuticals, fertilizers [10] and bioenergy [36].…”

Section: P In Agricultural Runoffs and Crop Residuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

New developments in biological phosphorus accessibility and recovery approaches from soil and waste streams

Vučić

Müller

2021

Engineering in Life Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Phosphorus (P) is a non‐renewable resource and is on the European Union's list of critical raw materials. It is predicted that the P consumption peak will occur in the next 10 to 20 years. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find accessible sources in the immediate environment, such as soil, and to use alternative resources of P such as waste streams. While enormous progress has been made in chemical P recovery technologies, most biological technologies for P recovery are still in the developmental stage and are not reaching industrial application. Nevertheless, biological P recovery could offer good solutions as these technologies can return P to the human P cycle in an environmentally friendly way. This mini‐review provides an overview of the latest approaches to make P available in soil and to recover P from plant residues, animal and human waste streams by exploiting the universal trait of P accumulation and P turnover in microorganisms and plants.

show abstract

“…(especially during the operation in series), along with some filamentous cyanobacteria like Pseudanabaena sp. and green microalgae [29,30,38] (Figure 4a-d). The production of microalgal biomass seemed to be limited by the concentration of nutrients in the influent agricultural runoff, with average seasonal concentrations of N-NH 4 ranging between 1.2 and 3.6 mg/L and of P-PO 4 between 0.32 and 1.84 mg/L [38].…”

Section: Microalgal Biomass Production and Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and green microalgae [29,30,38] (Figure 4a-d). The production of microalgal biomass seemed to be limited by the concentration of nutrients in the influent agricultural runoff, with average seasonal concentrations of N-NH 4 ranging between 1.2 and 3.6 mg/L and of P-PO 4 between 0.32 and 1.84 mg/L [38]. These values are quite low when compared to primary treated domestic wastewater (24-53 mg N-NH 4 /L and 8-25 mg P-PO 4 /L) [39].…”

Section: Microalgal Biomass Production and Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling-Up the Anaerobic Digestion of Pretreated Microalgal Biomass within a Water Resource Recovery Facility

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microalgae-based wastewater treatment plants are low-cost alternatives for recovering nutrients from contaminated effluents through microalgal biomass, which may be subsequently processed into valuable bioproducts and bioenergy. Anaerobic digestion for biogas and biomethane production is the most straightforward and applicable technology for bioenergy recovery. However, pretreatment techniques may be needed to enhance the anaerobic biodegradability of microalgae. To date, very few full-scale systems have been put through, due to acknowledged bottlenecks such as low biomass concentration after conventional harvesting and inefficient processing into valuable products. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anaerobic digestion of pretreated microalgal biomass in a demonstration-scale microalgae biorefinery, and to compare the results obtained with previous research conducted at lab-scale, in order to assess the scalability of this bioprocess. In the lab-scale experiments, real municipal wastewater was treated in high rate algal ponds (2 × 0.47 m3), and harvested microalgal biomass was thickened and digested to produce biogas. It was observed how the methane yield increased by 67% after implementing a thermal pretreatment step (at 75 °C for 10 h), and therefore the very same pretreatment was applied in the demonstration-scale study. In this case, agricultural runoff was treated in semi-closed tubular photobioreactors (3 × 11.7 m3), and harvested microalgal biomass was thickened and thermally pretreated before undergoing the anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. The results showed a VS removal of 70% in the reactor and a methane yield up to 0.24 L CH4/g VS, which were similar to the lab-scale results. Furthermore, photosynthetic biogas upgrading led to the production of biomethane, while the digestate was treated in a constructed wetland to obtain a biofertilizer. In this way, the demonstration-scale plant evidenced the feasibility of recovering resources (biomethane and biofertilizer) from agricultural runoff using microalgae-based systems coupled with anaerobic digestion of the microalgal biomass.

show abstract

Evaluation of daily and seasonal variations in a semi-closed photobioreactor for microalgae-based bioremediation of agricultural runoff at full-scale

Cited by 34 publications

References 24 publications

Balancing Microalgae and Nitrifiers for Wastewater Treatment: Can Inorganic Carbon Limitation Cause an Environmental Threat?

Balancing Microalgae and Nitrifiers for Wastewater Treatment: Can Inorganic Carbon Limitation Cause an Environmental Threat?

New developments in biological phosphorus accessibility and recovery approaches from soil and waste streams

Scaling-Up the Anaerobic Digestion of Pretreated Microalgal Biomass within a Water Resource Recovery Facility

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About