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The effect of varying LED light sources and influent carbon/nitrogen ratios on treatment of synthetic sanitary sewage using Chlorella vulgaris

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Abstract

Sanitary sewage can create serious environmental problems if discharged directly into natural waters without appropriate treatment. This study showed that red light is the optimum light wavelength for growing microalgae Chlorella vulgaris in microalgae biological wastewater treatment systems, given a harvest time of 144 h. Only moderate light intensities (1,000, 1,500, 2,000, and 2,500 μmol m−2 s−1) were able to remove nutrients from synthetic sanitary sewage, but higher light intensity led to better nutrient removal effects. Because of economic considerations, the optimum light intensity range for efficient nutrient removal was determined to be between 1,500 and 2,000 μmol m−2 s−1. Furthermore, nutrient removal efficiency was significantly affected by light wavelength, light intensity, the interaction of these two factors, and the interaction among light wavelength, light intensity, and influent carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios. Total nitrogen and total phosphorus removal efficiency was also significantly affected by influent C/N ratios. Appropriate control of carbon and nitrogen source concentrations enabled optimal nutrient removal. The optimal influent C/N ratio was determined to be 6:1.

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Acknowledgments

This study was sponsored by the Shandong College Science and Technology Project (J12LG06) and the Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 51078221). We thank our colleagues and students from Shandong University for helping with the measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, People’s Republic of China

    Bing Xu, Haiyan Pei & Wenrong Hu

  2. Department of Animal Husbandry Engineering, Zhengzhou College of Animal Husbandry Engineering, Zhengzhou, 450011, People’s Republic of China

    Pu Cheng

  3. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Cheng Yan

  4. Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People’s Republic of China

    Bing Xu

Authors
  1. Bing Xu
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  2. Pu Cheng
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  3. Cheng Yan
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  4. Haiyan Pei
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  5. Wenrong Hu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Haiyan Pei or Wenrong Hu.

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Haiyan Pei and Wenrong Hu: equally contributed to this work.

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Xu, B., Cheng, P., Yan, C. et al. The effect of varying LED light sources and influent carbon/nitrogen ratios on treatment of synthetic sanitary sewage using Chlorella vulgaris . World J Microbiol Biotechnol 29, 1289–1300 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-013-1292-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-013-1292-6

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