Evaluation of Chlorella sorokiniana isolated from local municipal wastewater for dual application in nutrient removal and biodiesel production

The isolated microalga Chlorella sorokiniana BENHA721_ABO4 was grown in Bold's basal medium (BBM) as a control, municipal wastewater (WW), and wastewater enriched with BBM elements (WW+). Cultivation in WW+showed the highest cell number which represented 25.3 and 47.3% over that grown in WW and BBM, respectively. However, rapid growth in WW+was accompanied by significant reduction in lipid content. Due to lipid accumulation in WW, it showed the maximum significant lipid productivity of 16.2mgL(-1)day(-1). Microalgae cultivation in WW for 10days showed 74.2, 83.3, and 78.0% removal efficiency for NO3-N, NH3-N and TP, respectively. In addition, growth in WW significantly reduced polyunsaturated fatty acids by 36.0% with respect to BBM in favor of monounsaturated fatty acids. The present results confirmed that C. sorokiniana isolate BENHA721_ABO4 grown in secondary effluent municipal wastewater offers real potential for future application in wastewater treatment and biodiesel production.