Abstract
Microalgal biofilms have attracted a good deal of attention as highly beneficial systems capable of reducing the cost of dewatering operations, the costliest component of suspended-growth systems. The support material is a key factor for algal biofilms generating high solids biomass slurries. This study presents results from screening experiments for algae biofilm support materials in a stationary flood-and-drain system (FDS) and a rotating biological contactor (RBC). Areal biomass productivity served as the selection criterion for attachment while nutrient removal performance was also monitored. Batch experiments tested the attachment capability of Scenedesmus obliquus ATCC®11,477 on the surface of several materials, (e.g., cotton duck, PVC foam, ceramic et.) with BG11 as growth medium. The highest average biomass productivity of 3.4±0.7 g·m− 2·d− 1 was recorded in the FDS using cotton duck as a support material. Comparable total nitrogen (TN) uptake rates of 3.51 and 3.14 mg L− 1d− 1were obtained under low P conditions (N:P = 35:1) in the FDS and RBC, respectively. Under high P conditions (N:P = 5:1), the TN uptake rate and removal efficiency increased to 16.04 mg L− 1d− 1 and 99.8%, respectively. In addition, nitrate removal experiments were carried out in a continuous flow microalgal biofilm reactor (MABR) with cotton duck support material operating at steady state and high effluent recirculation rates. The reactor was modeled using first order nitrate uptake kinetics in a completely mixed regime. The applied model fitted the experimental data adequately and allowed for determination of the nitrate uptake rate constant (K = 58.1 d− 1) via linear regression (R2 = 0.967).
Highlights
• Attached algal biomass support materials are evaluated in FDS and RBC systems.
• Among all materials tested, cotton duck supports the highest biomass productivity.
• Nitrogen uptake in MABR is adequately described by first order kinetics.
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An initial version of the paper has been included in the e-Proceedings of the “15th International Conference on Protection and Restoration of the Environment”, 2021, Patras, Greece, ISBN 978-618-82337-2-0.
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Yanxia Lin (experiments design and execution, analysis, data elaboration, original draft preparation), Agamemnon Koutsospyros (data elaboration, manuscript writing and review), Washington Braida (data elaboration, manuscript review) Christos Christodoulatos (experiments design, manuscript review), Amalia Terracciano (analytical support, manuscript writing and review), Tsan-Liang Su (experiment design and manuscript review).
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Lin, Y., Koutsospyros, A., Braida, W. et al. MicroAlgal Biofilm Reactor (MABR) – Evaluation of Biomass Support Materials and Nitrate Removal Performance. Environ. Process. 9, 26 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-022-00574-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-022-00574-y