Nitrogen and Phosphate Removal by Photobioreactors

초록

Most of the currently operating biological waste treatment systems uses mixtures of bacteria. One of the main drawbacks in these systems is the system cannot work if the influent streams has low C/N ratio. In other words, most system eliminates nitrogen sources in proportional to carbon sources. However, in some waste streams, there are high contents of nitrogen sources, which cannot be removed below the limit set up by the local government for effluent stream. Autotrophically growing microalgal cells can specifically eliminate nitrogen and phosphate sources by using carbon dioxides as a sole carbon source. We have designed and tested several photobioreactors to reduce TN and TP values without significantly affecting TOC or COD values. Various nitrogen sources were treated with various photobioreactors and various light conditions.