Microalgal bacterial flocs treating paper mill effluent: A sunlight-based approach for removing carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium

Treatment of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) effluent from a paper mill in aerated activated sludge reactors involves high aeration costs. Moreover, this calcium-rich effluent leads to problematic scale formation. Therefore, a novel strategy for the aerobic treatment of paper mill UASB effluent in microalgal bacterial floc sequencing batch reactors (MaB-floc SBRs) is proposed, in which oxygen is provided via photosynthesis, and calcium is removed via bio-mineralization. Based on the results of batch experiments in the course of this study, a MaB-floc SBR was operated at an initial neutral pH. This SBR removed 58 +/- 21% organic carbon, 27 +/- 8% inorganic carbon, 77 +/- 5% nitrogen, 73 +/- 2% phosphorus, and 27 +/- 11% calcium. MaB-flocs contained 10 +/- 3% calcium, including biologically-influenced calcite crystals. The removal of calcium and inorganic carbon by MaB-flocs significantly decreased when inhibiting extracellular carbonic anhydrase (CA), an enzyme that catalyses the hydration and dehydration of CO2. This study demonstrates the potential of MaB-floc SBRs for the alternative treatment of calcium-rich paper mill effluent, and highlights the importance of extracellular CA in this treatment process. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.