Pilot scale wastewater treatment, CO2sequestration and lipid production using microalga,Neochloris aquaticaRDS02

In present investigation carried out large-scale treatment of tannery effluent by the cultivation of microalgae,Neochloris aquaticaRDS02. The tannery effluent treatment revealed that significant reduction heavy metals were chromium-3.59, lead-2.85, nickel-1.9, cadmium-10.68, zinc-4.49, copper-0.95 and cobalt-1.86 mg/L on 15th day of treatment usingN. aquaticaRDS02. The microalgal biosorption capacityq(max)rate was Cr-88.66, Pb-75.87, Ni-87.61, Cd-60.44, Co-52.86, Zn-84.90 and Cu-54.39, and isotherm model emphasized that the higherR(2)value 0.99 by Langmuir and Freundlich kinetics model. The microalga utilized highest CO2(90%) analyzed by CO(2)biofixation and utilization kinetics, biomass (3.9 mg/mL), lipid (210 mg mL(-1)), carbohydrate (102.75 mg mL(-1)), biodiesel (4.9 mL g(-1)) and bioethanol (4.1 mL g(-1)). The microalgal-lipid content was analyzed through Nile red staining. Gas chromatography mass spectrometric (GCMS) analysis confirmed that the presence of a biodiesel and major fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profilingviz., tridecanoic acid methyl ester, pentadecanoic acid methyl ester, octadecanoic acid methyl ester, myristic acid methyl ester, palmitic acid methyl ester and oleic acid methyl ester. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis confirmed that the presence of a functional groupsviz., phenols, alcohols, alkynes, carboxylic acids, ketones, carbonyl and ester groups. The bioethanol production was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyze.