Experimental study for growth potential of unicellular alga Chlorella pyrenoidosa on dairy waste water: An integrated approach for treatment and biofuel production

This communication presents an integrated approach to study the potential of Chlorella pyrenoidosa for treatment of dairy wastewater (DWW) and biofuel extraction. The experiment was set up in two steps. The step-1 of the experiment was designed for treatment of dairy wastewater. The physical and chemical parameters of wastewater quality such as nitrate, phosphate, chloride, fluoride, hardness, etc., were studied. The level of nitrate and phosphate known, agents of eutrophication in water bodies was reduced by 60% and 87% in influent, 49% and 83% in the effluent, respectively. The step-2 of the experiment was designed for biofuel extraction by harvesting the biomass (algal strain) grown in dairy waste water. The result of this study shows that algal strain C. pyrenoidosa is not only an agent for mitigation of pollutant load, but it can also be used as potential agent for biofuel production. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.