Potential use of mixed indigenous microalgae for carbon dioxide bio-fixation and advanced wastewater treatment

Abstract

The potential use of mixed indigenous microalgae (MIMA) as a CO2 capturing technology and treatment process for wastewaters was evaluated at two temperatures ( 25 and 30 C) and different CO2 dosage ( 0%, 5% and 15%). During the study the growth rate of MIMA, CO2 utilization capacity, removals of organic matter and nutrients from synthetic wastewater were followed. A noticeable difference between the growth patterns of MIMA was observed at different CO2 and different operational temperatures. MIMA showed the highest growth grate when injected with CO2 dosage of 5% compared to blank solution 0% CO2 injection. Ammonia removals for MIMA were 94%, 93%, and 84% for the media injected with 0, 5 and 10% CO2 at 25 C. The results of this study show that simple and cost-effective microalgae-based wastewater treatment systems can be successfully employed at different temperatures as a successful CO2 capturing technology.