Knowledge Agora



Scientific Article details

Title Recent reports on domestic wastewater treatment using microalgae cultivation: Towards a circular economy
ID_Doc 3501
Authors Vaz, SA; Badenes, SM; Pinheiro, HM; Martins, RC
Title Recent reports on domestic wastewater treatment using microalgae cultivation: Towards a circular economy
Year 2023
Published
DOI 10.1016/j.eti.2023.103107
Abstract The conventional wastewater treatment process (WWTP) is under continuous improve-ment, mainly to reduce the final pollutant contents in the effluent. The circular economy concept is driving this industry towards the recovery of the carbon (C) and nutrient (ni-trogen - N and phosphorus - P) loads as valuable products, also to answer issues related to their depletion in nature. In this context, microalgae cultivation on wastewater has shown great promise in both water purification and the recovery of nutrients through additional biomass production. The further direction of the algal biomass to anaerobic co-digestion with wastewater sludge promises biogas yield improvements directing more of the carbon to energy recovery. Recent 100+ publications are here reviewed with the objective of compiling and comparing data on the cultivation of microalgae on domestic wastewater drawn from different stages of the conventional WWTP. A wide range of reactor types and scales, microalgae and bacteria inocula, and operational conditions are included, focusing on carbon and nutrient removal performance and the extent of their recovery in the produced biomass. However, most studies do not provide enough data tracking N, P, and C contents to allow the determination of their distribution among the possible system outputs. Still, some studies quantify the importance of removal mechanisms such as volatilization and precipitation, as well as microalgae uptake. Tentative mass balances on the three keys elements are presented, using the data disclosed in these few studies, highlighting the usefulness of these calculations and the need for their inclusion in future studies.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Author Keywords Domestic wastewater; Microalgae cultivation; Circular economy; Nutrient recovery; Biomass production
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
EID WOS:000960428500001
WoS Category Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences
Research Area Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Engineering; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
PDF https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2023.103107
Similar atricles
Scroll