Kinetics of nutrient removal and expression of extracellular polymeric substances of the microalgae, Chlorella sp and Micractinium sp., in wastewater treatment

Two species of green algae, Chlorella sp. and Micractinium sp., were cultivated in primary effluent wastewater and high-strength wastewater (a mixture of anaerobic digestion centrate and primary effluent) to study nutrient removal and EPS (extracellular polymeric substances) expression during their growth. The high N concentration and P-limited condition in the mixed wastewater (total N = 197 mg/L; N/P mass ratio = 56) led to about 3 times greater specific N removal rate than the primary effluent set, indicating that algal cells growing in N-rich wastewater had N over-uptake. Both Chlorella and Micractinium grown in the high-strength wastewater also produced larger amounts of protein EPS, possibly accounting for higher N uptake in those cultivation sets. These results suggest that different types of wastewater could cause different nutrient removal kinetics and EPS expression by algae, which may subsequently influence harvesting and anaerobic digestion of their biomass. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.