Nutrient Uptake Using Microalgal Biofilms for Wastewater Treatment

This project investigates the use of microalgal biofilms for nutrient uptake in wastewater treatment as a sustainable solution to water pollution. It addresses the growing concern over water resource threats due to industrialization and urbanization. The project aims to demonstrate how algae can be used to recover nutrients and toxic substances, comparing biofilm carriers to suspended microalgal cultures. It explores the settlement of algal biofilms on different substrates and examines their nutrient uptake capacity, particularly phosphorus removal. The experimental setup involves analyzing microalgae in a water treatment plant using three options: a post-treatment mechanism, a two-stage process removing COD and then N and P, and a mutually reciprocal process with bacteria. The project aims to test the hypothesis that algal biofilms can effectively treat polluted water by removing pollutants and producing biomass, offering a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional methods. The study includes a time plan for experimentation, data analysis, and report writing, with references to relevant research in the field.

NUTRIENT UPTAKE USING MICROALGAL BIOFILMS
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NUTRIENT UPTAKE USING MICROALGAL BIOFILMS
TITLE: Nutrient uptake using micro algal biofilms
Introduction : Water is being polluted due to rapid industrialization and rapid urbanization. To
get clean water is a challenge and microbial biofilms can be used for the treatment of polluted
water to get water which is clean and usable.(Gross et al., 2015)
Environmental laws have been formulated to regulate the problem. Therefore, in relation to
health, economy and the environment, the struggle against pollution is real hence has become
one of the major issues. In the world of today, the importance of having fresh water has been
recognized greatly.(Kesaano & Sims,2014) This is because water resources are facing severe
quantitative plus qualitative threats. Industrialization and rapid development have led to the
creation of severe risks towards water resources in most areas within the world.( Lara et al.,
2017)
Most of the countries within that region are dry. This is because they have minimum rainfall as
compared to other parts of the world. These regions contain up to less than 1% of renewable
freshwater. However, the demand for fresh water within these areas is rising but most of the
water bodies are polluted hence raising concern for water treatment. The population has grown
by 50% within the past thirty years totalling to 280 million people, the challenge of having
freshwater for these population is real. Various techniques were used to discover the above. The
first technique used is that of conducting interviews. Interviews were also conducted to get more
information in relation to water pollution. For instance, the interviews conducted helped to reveal
the most common ways that lead to water pollution. Observations were also conducted.
Rationale
The importance of the research is to show how the algae can be used in recovering nutrients and
toxic substances so as to suspend microalgae cultures in the water treatment process. Therefore,

NUTRIENT UPTAKE USING MICROALGAL BIOFILMS
exploration will be done showing how the algae solutions apply microalgae to clean the waste
streams (Zhang, et al. 2018)
Objectives
Algal solutions use microalgae/phytoplankton to clean waste streams (i.e. CO2 from flue
gas and nutrient from waste water). This project will study how biofilms of algae can be used to
recover nutrients and compare biofilm carriers to suspended microalgal cultures.
The overall aim of this project is to show how the usage of biofilms of algae can play a role in
the water treatment process. The project will also investigate how biofilms of algae can be used
to recover nutrients. The study will also investigate the settlement of algal biofilm compare how
biofilms to different substrates (Choudhary et al., 2017).
Specific objectives of the degree project. The usage of microalgal biofilms in the uptake of
nutrients play a greater role in water treatment. This is because in the world of today a lot of
industrialization is taking place hence most of the industries release a lot of toxic substances
which pollute the water sources
 Contaminated water from landfills also plays a role in water pollution. This is due to the
sewage having a higher concentration of ammonium salts and high amounts of sodium.
 To avoid inadequate water supply, pollution should be avoided in all manner. This is
because if the water catchment areas are polluted, then water supply will be cut off
 More ways should be implemented in future so as to prevent any further pollution,
Industrial waste should be minimized, Sewage should also be treated before being
released.
Hypotheses
Biofilms of algae can be used to recover nutrients. Therefore, this is an HO hypothesis.

NUTRIENT UPTAKE USING MICROALGAL BIOFILMS
Main Hypothesis to be tested
Algal biofilm has the nutrient uptake capacity to treat polluted water. It is able to remove 99 %
of phosphorus. We have to test for the development of an algal biofilm based technology
platform for integrating wastewater treatment and biomass production.
Variables used in this project. : Area of the microalgae biofilm and the respective effluent
concentrations for different options for removal of N and P.
To use CO2 as a carbon source and produce biomass.
Experimental setup
For the production of biofuels, microalgae is having the advantage as compared to the energy
crops ("Wastewater cleaning using microalgae biofilms", 2019). Apart from high growth rate
plus substantial lipid, they have the ability to grow within the wastewaters hence efficiently
removing micropollutants and primary nutrients. They also do not compete for the fertile lands.
(Miranda et al., 2017). However, important barriers for industrial application for microalgae for
the biofuel production is high costs for removing algae from water which is of the order of 30 to
40 percent of total cost for the production of biodiesel. (Hannon et al.,2010). The algal biofilms
have become increasingly prevalent.(Zhang et al.,2018) This is because the strategy for
deliberation of microalgae dewatering is easier and cheaper (Berner et al., 2015).
The removal of nutrients from wastewater through using algal biofilms is potentially more
sustainable than traditional methods. Less energy and chemicals are needed, while microalgae
use CO2 as a carbon source and produce valuable biomass. Microalgae biofilms have several

NUTRIENT UPTAKE USING MICROALGAL BIOFILMS
advantages over suspended algal cultures. Biofilms grow on a surface separate from the
wastewater and can be easily harvested by scraping off the algae layer. (Filippino, 2015)
Data analyses and statistics
An experimental environment is created using three options in which microalgae are fed into a
hypothetical water treatment plant. (Berner et al.,2015)
In Option 1, the microalgae biofilm system is used as an after treatment mechanism for
wastewater from an activated sludge process.
In option 2, stage 1 of wastewater treatment removes Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) At this
stage, nitrification is prevented by operating at a short sludge dwell time. (2.5 days).
( Strous,2017)
In stage 2 a microalgae biofilm system removes N and P. Here N is present as NH4 +
and not as NO3-.
In option 3, the microalgae are used in a mutually reciprocal process of algae and bacteria..
Data obtained from all the options should be analyzed to find out the target effluent for both N
and P.
Project Time Plan
Weeks Performance
Week 1 Project plan
Week 2 Sampling/start experiment
Week 3 Conduct experiment
Week 4 Take readings
Week 5 Report Writing
Week 6 Mid seminar presentation
Week 7 Report submission
Week 8 Final report and presentation

NUTRIENT UPTAKE USING MICROALGAL BIOFILMS
References
Berner F, Heimann K, Sheehan M. Microalgal biofilms for biomass production. Journal of
applied phycology. 2015 Oct 1;27(5):1793-804.
Choudhary P, Malik A, Pant KK. Algal Biofilm Systems: An Answer to Algal Biofuel Dilemma
. InAlgal Biofuels 2017 (pp. 77-96). Springer, Cham.
Filippino, K. (2015). Algal Nutrient Removal During Wastewater Treatment. Water Intelligence
Online, 14. doi: 10.2166/9781780406749
Gross, M., Jarboe, D., & Wen, Z. (2015). Biofilm-based algal cultivation systems. Applied
icrobiology and biotechnology, 99(14), 5781-5789.
Hannon, M., Gimpel, J., Tran, M., Rasala, B., & Mayfield, S. (2010). Biofuels from algae:
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Kesaano, M., & Sims, R. C. (2014). Algal biofilm based technology for wastewater
treatment. Algal Research, 5, 231-240.
Lara, G., Honda, M., Poersch, L., & Wasielesky, W. (2017). The use of biofilm and different
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Miranda, A., Ramkumar, N., Andriotis, C., Höltkemeier, T., Yasmin, A., & Rochfort, S. et al.
(2017). Applications of microalgal biofilms for wastewater treatment and bioenergy
production. Biotechnology For Biofuels, 10(1). doi: 10.1186/s13068-017-0798-9

NUTRIENT UPTAKE USING MICROALGAL BIOFILMS
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