Removal of nutrients from wastewater through photobioreactor using algae

Abstract

The research was carried out with the end goal to give a detailed survey of current research to use Algae in order to remove nutrients such as Phosphorus (P) and Nitrogen (N) and also to determine treatment of synthetic waste water by using Algae. In this study, a Photobioreactor was fabricated on the basis of utilization of minimum space and suitable materials to maintain the quality and objective of this project. Total numbers of tank in Photobioreactor were 5 and total volume of water was 60 liters. Synthetic wastewater was produced using different quantities of Dextrin, Yeast extra, Sodium Carbonate, Soluble Starch, Sodium Dihydrogen Phosphate, Washing Powder, Potassium Sulfate, Settled sewage, Shampoo etc since the domestic wastewater contains a number of unwanted constituents. The Photobioreactor helped in storing synthetic waste water, providing growth medium for algae, settle down the sediments, filter out the remaining sediments and finally storing the clean water. The results obtained from the study showed considerable decrease in pH, Chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), phosphates, sulfates and nitrates. The initial pH was determined to be 7.8 whereas after treatment it reduced to 7.5. BOD reduced from 22 mg/L to 15.5 mg/L, COD reduced from 15 mg/L to 9.5 mg/L, Nitrates reduced from 39.5 mg/L to 20 mg/L, Sulfates reduced from 14.5 mg/L to 10 mg/L and Phosphates reduced from 12 mg/L to 7 mg/L. Thus the reduction in various numbers of nutrients indicated that wastewater treatment using Algae is quite favorable in terms of economic and ecological point of view. Water collected at the end of the process was clean enough to be used in daily life routines.The research was carried out with the end goal to give a detailed survey of current research to use Algae in order to remove nutrients such as Phosphorus (P) and Nitrogen (N) and also to determine treatment of synthetic waste water by using Algae. In this study, a Photobioreactor was fabricated on the basis of utilization of minimum space and suitable materials to maintain the quality and objective of this project. Total numbers of tank in Photobioreactor were 5 and total volume of water was 60 liters. Synthetic wastewater was produced using different quantities of Dextrin, Yeast extra, Sodium Carbonate, Soluble Starch, Sodium Dihydrogen Phosphate, Washing Powder, Potassium Sulfate, Settled sewage, Shampoo etc since the domestic wastewater contains a number of unwanted constituents. The Photobioreactor helped in storing synthetic waste water, providing growth medium for algae, settle down the sediments, filter out the remaining sediments and finally storing the clean water. The results obtained from the s...