title: Implications of nutrient removal and biomass production by native and augmented algal populations at a municipal wastewater treatment plant.
abstract: Algal monocultures (Chlorella sorokiniana and Botryococcus braunii) and algal communities native to clarifiers of a wastewater treatment plant were batch cultivated in (1) clarified effluent following a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) removal reactor post-BOD removal clarified effluent (PBCE), (2) clarified effluent following a nitrification reactor post-nitrification clarified effluent (PNCE), and (3) a reference media (RM). After 12 days, all algal species achieved nitrogen removal between 68 and 82% in PBCE and 37 and 99% in PNCE, and phosphorus removal between 91 and 100% in PBCE and 60 and 100% in PNCE. The pH of the wastewater samples increased above 9.8 after cultivation of each species, which likely aided ammonia volatilization and phosphorus adsorption. Both monocultures grew readily with wastewater as a feedstock, but B. braunii experienced significant crowding from endemic fauna. In most cases, native algal species' nutrient removal efficiency was competitive with augmented algal monocultures, and in some cases achieved a higher biomass yield, demonstrating the potential to utilize native species for nutrient polishing and algal biomass production.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, ENB118, Tampa, FL 33620, USA E-mail: dhyeh@usf.edu.
authors.forename: Ivy L C
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Drexler
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 70.000, 7500 KB, Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bekaan
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, ENB118, Tampa, FL 33620, USA E-mail: dhyeh@usf.edu.
authors.forename: Yasmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Eskandari
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, ENB118, Tampa, FL 33620, USA E-mail: dhyeh@usf.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Yeh