title: An annular photobioreactor with ion-exchange-membrane for non-touch microalgae cultivation with wastewater.
abstract: To eliminate the negative impacts of pollutants in wastewater (such as suspended solids, excess N, P, heavy metals) on microalgae growth, an annular ion-exchange-membrane photobioreactor (IEM-PBR) was proposed in this study. The IEM-PBR could avoid direct mixing of algae cells with wastewater by separating them into two chambers. In the IEM-PBR, the nutrients (mainly N and P) in wastewater continuously permeated into microalgae cultures through the ion-exchange-membrane for microalgae growth, while the pollutants hardly permeated into microalgae cultures. Three types of representative wastewater were investigated to evaluate the performance of the IEM-PBR. When cultivated with wastewater containing excess nutrients, high turbidity and excess heavy metals, microalgae biomass concentrations were significantly improved from 2.34, 2.15 and 0gL(-1) in the traditional PBR to 4.24, 3.13 and 2.04gL(-1) in the IEM-PBR. Correspondingly, the removal efficiencies of N and P in wastewater were also greatly improved by using the IEM-PBR.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Xing
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. Electronic address: fuqian@cqu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Ao
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. Electronic address: lqzx@cqu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Chi-He
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D007474:Ion Exchange; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D058086:Microalgae / Q000254:growth & development*; D058433:Photobioreactors; D062065:Wastewater
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Ion-exchange-membrane; Microalgae; Nutrient removal; Photobioreactor; Wastewater treatment