Publication Details
Abstract
Industrial water pollution results in severe health hazard to the people besides enhancing the level of environmental pollution. Given its capabilities to successfully filter pollutants and generate useful biomass, microalgae have become a suitable and efficient manner of wastewater treatment. This work investigates the efficiency of Chlorella saccharophila (CSA) and Chlorella vulgaris (CVS) for wastewater treatment. The outcomes suggested reliable reductions in some of the chemical parameters including chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, electrical conductivity and total suspended solids when Chlorella species were applied on the wastewater. Decrease in the quantity of total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) also clearly indicates that how effectively Chlorella species remove hazardous materials from wastewater. Another important effect was the decrease of the pH after treatment by Chlorella species, which affects pathogen inactivation as well as the further treatment steps. The differences in the growth rates as well as the capacities for nutrient removal between CVS and CSA might have been responsible for any differences in the efficiency of pollutant removal. CSA offered superiority over CVS for the removal of TDS; TAN and COD were better removed by CVS. Overall, the study indicated that Chlorella species may prove to be a cheap and effective bio-remediation method of wastewater. Heavy metals, organic pollutants and nutrients, amongst other, could be removed by the microalgae. The treated water met the discharge standards for some parameters because the treated wastewater could be released into the environment. Overall, the results point to the possibility of using Chlorella species as an affordable and environmentally friendly wastewater treatment technique.