Harvesting of microalgae biomass from the phycoremediation process of greywater

Abstract

The wide application of microalgae in the field of wastewater treatment and bioenergy source has improved research studies in the past years. Microalgae represent a good source of biomass and bio-products which are used in different medical and industrial activities, among them the production of high-valued products and biofuels. The present review focused on greywater treatment through the application of phycoremediation technique with microalgae and presented recent advances in technologies used for harvesting the microalgae biomass. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed. The microbiological aspects of production, harvesting and utilization of microalgae biomass are viewed.

An overview of the utilisation of microalgae biomass derived from nutrient recycling of wet market wastewater and slaughterhouse wastewater

“…Nevertheless, the similarity between slaughterhouse wastewater and wet market wastewater lies in the level of nutrients which is within the range required for microalgae growth. Therefore, both types of wastewaters contribute to the contamination of natural water systems and eutrophication (Atiku et al 2016;Pahazri et al 2016). The increasing production and associated consumption of meat and poultry had increased the discharge of wastewater.…”

“…It has been found that the microalgae in the phycoremediation process have the capacity between 70 and 90% to remove nitrate, sulphate, and phosphate (Nandeshwar and Satpute 2014). The phycoremediation process is associated with the high production of microalgae biomass which has numerous applications (Atiku et al 2016). Moreover, the utilisation of microalgae biomass as fish feed might be more applicable without more extractions and preparation processes, because microalgae represent natural fish food in water (Brown 2002;Guedes and Malcata 2012;Skarka 2012;Baharuddin et al 2016).…”

Removal of nutrients and organic pollutants from household greywater by phycoremediation for safe disposal

“…The high turbidity might limit the light penetration through the greywater and thus reduce the photosynthesis level of the microalgae. The light is one of the main factors affecting microalgae growth because macroalgae cell converts the light into energy via the photosynthesis process and the microalgae cell has no mechanism to store the light [1,22].…”

“…Both NO 3 and NH 3 are taken by diffusion through cell membrane due to the low molecular weight which facilitates the transmission by passive uptake transport system. Phosphorus (P) is available in the greywater in orthophosphate (PO 4 3-) form, but the microalgae cells have to degrade the organic matter and release phosphate by the hydrolysis enzymes such as phosphoresterases or phosphatases to be dissolved in water and the uptake by the cells via assimilation process [22]. The low reduction of PO 4 3-from greywater of house 4 might be due to the structure of chemical substance in the detergents and soaps which have more persistence to the degradation process as mentioned above.…”

Nutrient Recovery from Domestic Effluent using an Indigenous Strain of Scenedesmus sp.

“…The potential of Chlorella spp., Chlamydomonas spp., Euglena spp., Navicula spp., Oscillatoria spp, Scenedesmus spp., and Stigeoclonium spp. to degrade organic pollutants and remove heavy metals during the phycoremediation process have been reported in the literature …”