Coupled nutrient removal and biomass production with mixed algal culture: Impact of biotic and abiotic factors

The influence of biotic (algal inoculum concentration) and abiotic factors (illumination cycle, mixing velocity and nutrient strength) on the treatment efficiency, biomass generation and settleability were investigated with selected mixed algal culture. Dark condition led to poor nutrient removal efficiency. No significant difference in the N, P removal and biomass settleability between continuous and alternating illumination was observed, but a higher biomass generation capability for the continuous illumination was obtained. Different mixing velocity led to similar phosphorus removal efficiencies (above 98%) with different retention times. The reactor with 300 rpm mixing velocity had the best N removal capability. For the low strength wastewater, the N rates were 5.4 ± 0.2, 9.1 ± 0.3 and 10.8 ± 0.3 mg/l/d and P removal rates were 0.57 ± 0.03, 0.56 ± 0.03 and 0.72 ± 0.05 mg/l/d for reactors with the algal inoculum concentration of 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 g/l, respectively. Low nutrient removal efficiency and poor biomass settleability were obtained for high strength wastewater.