Treatment efficacy of algae-based sewage treatment plants

Mahapatra, Durga Madhab and Chanakya, HN and Ramachandra, TV (2013) Treatment efficacy of algae-based sewage treatment plants. In: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 185 (9). pp. 7145-7164.

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Abstract

Lagoons have been traditionally used in India for decentralized treatment of domestic sewage. These are cost effective as they depend mainly on natural processes without any external energy inputs. This study focuses on the treatment efficiency of algae-based sewage treatment plant (STP) of 67.65 million liters per day (MLD) capacity considering the characteristics of domestic wastewater (sewage) and functioning of the treatment plant, while attempting to understand the role of algae in the treatment. STP performance was assessed by diurnal as well as periodic investigations of key water quality parameters and algal biota. STP with a residence time of 14.3 days perform moderately, which is evident from the removal of total chemical oxygen demand (COD) (60 %), filterable COD (50 %), total biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (82 %), and filterable BOD (70 %) as sewage travels from the inlet to the outlet. Furthermore, nitrogen content showed sharp variations with total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) removal of 36 %; ammonium N (NH4-N) removal efficiency of 18 %, nitrate (NO3-N) removal efficiency of 22 %, and nitrite (NO2-N) removal efficiency of 57.8 %. The predominant algae are euglenoides (in facultative lagoons) and chlorophycean members (maturation ponds). The drastic decrease of particulates and suspended matter highlights heterotrophy of euglenoides in removing particulates.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Publisher:	Springer
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Springer.
Keywords:	Algae; Sewage Treatment; Euglena; Facultative Pond; Nutrient; Carbon Capture; Biovolume
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences > Center for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Sustainable Technologies (formerly ASTRA)
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2013 06:49
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2013 06:49
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/47422

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