Water quality improvement using novel attached growth systems

ABSTRACT

Excessive growth of microalgae results in the eutrophication and degradation of water quality in lakes and ponds. Microalgae have proved to be very beneficial for sustainable development. Its applications, starting from growth to death, make them a valuable resource for food and energy production. However, presence of microalgae in surface water sources affects water quality and its beneficial uses. The excess nutrient-rich agriculture runoff also adds problems to the downstream systems. Nutrient removal and microalgae harvesting are considered the most problematic task for improving water quality of surface waters. The main objective of the present study was to improve the water quality of nutrient rich waters using attached growth systems. The use of batch and continuous flow baffled attached growth systems has successfully improved the water quality and produced algal biomass that can be utilized or transformed into other valuable products. The performance of continuous flow baffled attached growth system was better and it improved the quality of oligotrophic, mesotrophic, eutrophic and hypereutrophic waters by removing>95% of TN and TP in 35, 63, 63 and 4 days, with biomass productivity of 2.69 ± 0.21, 3.17 ± 0.06, 3.61 ± 0.16 and 4.64 ± 0.3 g_DWm⁻² day⁻¹, respectively.

KEYWORDS:

• Microalgae
• hypolimnetic water
• eutrophication
• attach growth system

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India, for providing scholarship to conduct the study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, University Grants Commission .