TY - JOUR
T1 - Nitrate Removal from Groundwater Using Immobilized Heterotrophic Algae
AU - Mollamohammada, Sara
AU - Aly Hassan, Ashraf
AU - Dahab, Mohamed
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors received the financial support of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under Research Council Seed Grant. The National Water Center and United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) also partly financed this project under grant no. G00003297.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - The treatment efficiency of Chlorella sorokiniana and Scenedesmus species, immobilized in sodium alginate, was evaluated for removing nitrate from groundwater. The experiments were performed initially in batch mode and the best-performing conditions were replicated in sequencing batch reactor mode. S. sp. showed a higher nitrate uptake in short term than C. sorokiniana. Immobilized S. sp. and C. sorokiniana cells showed 90% nitrate removal in 9 and 12 days, respectively. The optimal ratio of algal beads/water was found to be 12.5% (v:v). Comparatively, suspended S. sp. cells were able to remove only up to 35% of nitrate in 8 days. Alginate immobilized S. sp. beads were capable of uptaking nitrate for 100 consecutive days in sequencing batch reactor mode. When tested in actual groundwater, 90% of nitrate was eliminated in 2 days without need for any additional carbon source. Immobilized algal beads can be a low-cost alternative technique to remove nitrate from groundwater as they are water-insoluble, non-toxic, easy to harvest, and offer high removal efficiency.
AB - The treatment efficiency of Chlorella sorokiniana and Scenedesmus species, immobilized in sodium alginate, was evaluated for removing nitrate from groundwater. The experiments were performed initially in batch mode and the best-performing conditions were replicated in sequencing batch reactor mode. S. sp. showed a higher nitrate uptake in short term than C. sorokiniana. Immobilized S. sp. and C. sorokiniana cells showed 90% nitrate removal in 9 and 12 days, respectively. The optimal ratio of algal beads/water was found to be 12.5% (v:v). Comparatively, suspended S. sp. cells were able to remove only up to 35% of nitrate in 8 days. Alginate immobilized S. sp. beads were capable of uptaking nitrate for 100 consecutive days in sequencing batch reactor mode. When tested in actual groundwater, 90% of nitrate was eliminated in 2 days without need for any additional carbon source. Immobilized algal beads can be a low-cost alternative technique to remove nitrate from groundwater as they are water-insoluble, non-toxic, easy to harvest, and offer high removal efficiency.
KW - Biological nitrate treatment
KW - Chlorella sorokiniana
KW - Nitrate removal, nitrogen, heterotrophic growth
KW - Scenedesmus species
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077564320&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85077564320&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11270-019-4334-3
DO - 10.1007/s11270-019-4334-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85077564320
SN - 0049-6979
VL - 231
JO - Water, Air, and Soil Pollution
JF - Water, Air, and Soil Pollution
IS - 1
M1 - 26
ER -