Treatment of municipal wastewater using Scenedesmus abundans and studies on saccharification of grown biomass using ultrasound assistance

摘要

Today, numerous research groups are investigating the research on microalgae with the support of government to overcome the dependence on fossil-based fuels, because, the microalgae is the third generation biofuel feedstock. This biofuel feedstock has grasped all the attention due to its capability to grow faster by utilizing the wastewater and consuming the carbon dioxide or flue gas. This study describes the potential of the microalgae, Scenedesmus abundans to exploit the nutrients in the municipal wastewater and to yield abundant biomass for biofuel production and sequestering CO 2 in a photobioreactor. During its cultivation, about 75.9% of chemical oxygen demand, 91.6% nitrogen and 90.7% phosphate were removed which results in a good biomass concentration of 3.45 g/L of which the carbohydrate content accumulated was about 57%. Saccharification was carried with mild acid or mild alkali with and without application of ultrasound. On assessment, the ultrasound-assisted mild acid saccharification (at 8% v/v) resulted the highest sugar yield of 139 mg/g dry biomass. These findings were suggested that the municipal wastewater with sufficient nutrients supplement can be directly used for mass cultivation of microalgae which is an essential source of carbohydrate for bioethanol production.