Nutrient Removal From Sewage – An Experimental Study At Laboratory Scale Using Microalgae

Microalgae have the potential to utilize the nutrients in the wastewater for its growth and serve as a primary feedstock for the production of value added products. A feasibility study has been conducted to determine the capability of the microalgae (Chlorella sp) to grow in sewage without sterilization in a laboratory scale batch process under the continuous illumination of light. In the present investigation, the algal growth and nutrients removal in the sewage has been studied and the experimental results revealed the growth period of microalgae as 9 days. The nutrients present in the sewage after algal growth was compared with the nutrients in the initial stage. The percentage removal of nutrients after the end of batch process is Phosphate-90.7%, Total solids -86%, Nitrates-Nitrogen-60%, Ammonia-Nitrogen-58.8%, Total dissolved solids -90%, and Total suspended solids -50%, respectively.