High concentrations ammonia removel by the cyanobacterium plectonema boryanum in a photobioreactor system

摘要

The potential application of the cyanobacterium Plectonema boryanum was investigated for the removal of ammonia from aqueous solution to meet the target concentration of below 0.02 mg/L free ammonia. This method can be applied as a final polishing step in a series of wastewater steps to reduce the ammonia concentration to drinking water levels. The experiments were conducted in a 2 L photobioreator using batch and semi-batch modes of operation. The effect of important growth parameters such as temperature, light intensity and pH were investigated to identify their relative significance in a batch photobioreactor.