Nutrient removal from artificial bathroom greywater by phycoremediation using Botryococcus sp.

Bathroom greywater represent the major portion of the total greywater production from the house-hold activity. These wastes should be subjected to a treatment process before being discharged directly into the environment to avoid the occurrence of the eutrophication phenomenon. Hence, the current work aimed to investigate the potential of phycoremediation process for removing nutrients from artificial bathroom greywater (ABGW) by Botryococcus sp. The phycoremediation process was conducted for 30 d, while the microalgae cell growth in ABGW was measured daily. The biokinetic absorption using Michaelis-Menten were determined for NO3-N and PO4P. The results revealed that the maximum microalgae cell growth was recorded on the 10th day with 2.0 x 10(6 )cells/mL. The highest removal of NO3-N (97%) and PO4-P (87%) were achieved on the 30th day of phycoremediation. The biokinetic absorption rate using Michaelis-Menten coefficient were K = 0.265 mg NO3-N mg/Chl-a/d and K-m = 2.38 mg/L, while for PO4-P were K = 1.057 mg PO4-P mg/ Chl-a/d and K-m = 12.04 mg/L. In conclusion, phycoremediation using Botryococcus sp. exhibited a high potential for the nutrients removal from ABGW.

Automated summary

The research revealed that the use of phycoremediation with Botryococcus sp. showed a high potential for removing nutrients from artificial bathroom greywater.