Journal
WATER RESEARCH
Volume 45, Issue 9, Pages 2845-2854Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2011.03.005
Keywords
Methanotroph; Autotroph; Phytoplankton; Biofloc
Funding
- Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen) [SB-83259]
- Geconcerteerde Onderzoeksactie (GOA) of Ghent University [BOF09/GOA/005]
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Effluents of anaerobic wastewater treatment plants are saturated with methane, an effective greenhouse gas. We propose a novel approach to treat such effluents using a coculture of methane oxidizing communities and microalgae, further indicated as methalgae, which would allow microbial methane oxidation with minimal CO2 emissions. Coculturing a methane oxidizing community with microalgae in sequence batch reactors under continuous lightning yielded a factor of about 1.6 more biomass relative to the control without microalgae. Moreover, 55% less external oxygen supply was needed to maintain the methane oxidation, as oxygen was produced in situ by the microalgae. An overall methane oxidation rate of 171 +/- 27 mg CH4 L-1 liquid phase d(-1) was accomplished in a semi-batch setup, while the excess CO2 production was lower than 1 mg CO2 L-1 d(-1). Both nitrate and ammonium were feasible nitrogen sources for the methalgae. These results show that a coculture of microalgae and methane oxidizing communities can be used to oxidize dissolved methane under O-2-limiting conditions, which could lead to a novel treatment for dissolved methane in anaerobic effluents. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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