WASTEWATER TREATMENT BY MICROALGAE

Abstract

Domesticwastewatercontainshighnutrients concentrations such as nitrogen and phosphoruswhichcan affect public health and cause harmfulecological impacts. The potential of microalgae as a source of renewableenergybased on wastewater has receivedincreasinginterestworldwide in recentdecades. The microalgaecultivation in wastewater has twoadvantages: wastewatertreatment and algal biomass production. Our workaimed to removenutrientsfromdomesticwastewater by chlorella. Wastewaterswereobtainedfrom a wastewatertreatment plant located in Ouargla, Algeria. The experimentswereconducted in winterundernatural sunlight in an outdoor open raceway pond situated in the desert area. Analysis of differentparameterswasdoneevery 2 daysalong the period of the cultivation (19days). The averageremovalefficiencies of COD,BOD5,NH4+-N and TP weremaintainedat 78%,87%,95% and 81% respectively . Our results show the potential of integratingnutrientsremovalfromwastewater by microalgae as a secondarywastewatertreatmentprocesses.