ANIE YULISTYORINI, M.A. CAMARGO-VALERO AND AGOES SOEGIANTO
Abstract
Microalgae have been identified as one of the most promising sources for future wastewater treatment and generate many valuable products. Photosynthetic microalgae utilize energy from the sun and assimilate nutrients like carbon (C), N and P from wastewater. Microalgae can grow rapidly in wastewater and produce biomass that can be used to produce biofuels, fine chemical products, and bio-fertilizers. This study was conducted to investigate the nutrient recovery from wastewater through microalgae biological uptake. The green microalgae of C. reinhardtii 11/32C used in this study and cultivated in Boldâs Basal Media (BBM). The algae culture was placed in a 2 liter of photobioreactor for approximately in 14 days. The green C.reinhardtii 11/32C were cultivated in the following conditions: photoperiod 16 hr light, 8 hr dark (16:8); light intensity 250±5 μEm-2s-1; and temperature 20±3oC which run in triplicates. The liquid samples were collected every two days over a period of 14 days for Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Volatile Suspended Solids (VSS), Nitrate (NO3-), Phosphate (PO43-), Chlorophyll-a, Total Phosphorus (TP) and Total Nitrogen (TKN). The results revealed that green microalgae can uptake nutrient at the rate of 2.13 mg N/l/d and 0.5 mg P/l/d. These results could recover up to 5.9 % and 1.3% of N and P in their cell, respectively.