Microalgae for phosphorus chemical wastewater treatment and recovery of phosphorus

Abstract

In this study, we have found a new method to recovery phosphorus selectively from high-fluoride-phosphoric wastewater. This new method was a microalgae-based phosphorus recovery technology.The results showed that Chlorella sp. can not only grew very well in high-fluoride-phosphoric wastewater, but also has the highest ability to reduce the phosphorus from the wastewater among Scenedesmus sp., Selenastrum bibraianum and Chlamydomonas sp. After Chlorella sp. cultured for 16 days, the concentration of phosphorus decreased from 12.76 mg/L to 5.00 mg/L. There were two ways to reduce phosphorus by Chlorella sp. One was the specific uptakes phosphorus into algal cells and the other was absorbs phosphorus through the functional groups on the EPS. These algal cells can be separated from the wastewater through harvesting or other methods, enabling the subsequent recovery of phosphorus. The results of this study could provide valuable information for phosphorus recovery from high-fluoride-phosphoric wastewater.