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Microalgae-mediated brewery wastewater treatment: effect of dilution rate on nutrient removal rates, biomass biochemical composition, and cell physiology

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Abstract

Microalgae have been used to remove nitrogen, phosphorus, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from brewery wastewater (BWW). The microalga Scenedesmus obliquus was grown on BWW, using bubble column photobioreactors that operated under batch and continuous regimes. For the first time, the cell physiological status cell membrane integrity and enzymatic activity was monitored during the microalgae based BWW treatment, using flow cytometry. All the cultivations batch and continuous displayed a proportion of cells with intact membrane > 87%, although the continuous cultivations displayed a lower proportion of cells with enzymatic activity (20–40%) than the batch cultivations (97%). The dilution rate of 0.26 day−1 was the most favorable condition, since the microalgae cultivation attained the maximum biomass productivity (0.2 g ash-free dry weight day−1) and the total nitrogen and COD removal rates were the highest (97 and 74%, respectively), while the phosphorous removal rate was the third (23%).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Sociedade Central Cervejas e Bebidas (SCC), Portugal, for the brewery effluent supply. The authors also acknowledge Dr. Cristina Oliveira (LNEG) for the fatty acid analysis assistance, Belina Ribeiro (LNEG), Graça Gomes LNEG), Natércia Santos (LNEG) and Margarida Monteiro (LNEG) for microalgae culture maintenance and laboratorial support.

Funding

This work was supported by the project ERANetLAC/0001/2014 (ELAC2014/BEE0357) GREENBIOREFINERY-Processing of brewery wastes with microalgae for producing valuable compounds and COST Action 1408 EUALGAE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LNEG, I.P.- Bioenergy Unit, Estrada do Paço do Lumiar 22, 1649-038, Lisbon, Portugal

    Leonilde Marchão, Teresa Lopes da Silva, Luísa Gouveia & Alberto Reis

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  1. Leonilde Marchão
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  2. Teresa Lopes da Silva
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  3. Luísa Gouveia
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  4. Alberto Reis
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Correspondence to Teresa Lopes da Silva.

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Marchão, L., da Silva, T.L., Gouveia, L. et al. Microalgae-mediated brewery wastewater treatment: effect of dilution rate on nutrient removal rates, biomass biochemical composition, and cell physiology. J Appl Phycol 30, 1583–1595 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-017-1374-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-017-1374-1

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