On the nitrogen and phosphorus removal in algal photobioreactors

Abstract This study shows results of nitrogen and phosphorus removal by microalgae (tertiary treatment) in a prototype of tubular photobioreactor tested under controlled and uncontrolled conditions. The wastewater was the supernatant coming from a secondary settler of a municipal wastewater activated sludge treatment plant without nitrification and denitrification units. The algal biomass was directly selected from the supernatant and it was principally composed of genus Scenedesmus (autochthonous algae). All the experiments evaluated both nitrogen and phosphorus removal and biomass and lipid production. A satisfactory nutrients removal – about 99.9% for the nitrogen and phosphorus – and a specific biomass productivity of 0.25 g/l d have been obtained in the indoor photobioreactor; less satisfactory results have been reached in the outdoor photobioreactor because of ambient condition instability and limiting nutrients concentration.