Hai-Xing Chang1, Qian Fu2, Yun Huang1, Ao Xia1, Qiang Liao3, Xun Zhu1, Ya-Ping Zheng1, Chi-He Sun1. 1. Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. 2. Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. Electronic address: fuqian@cqu.edu.cn. 3. Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400030, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. Electronic address: lqzx@cqu.edu.cn.
Abstract
To eliminate the negative impacts of pollutants in wastewater (such as suspended solids, excess N, P, heavy metals) on microalgae growth, an annular ion-exchange-membrane photobioreactor (IEM-PBR) was proposed in this study. The IEM-PBR could avoid direct mixing of algae cells with wastewater by separating them into two chambers. In the IEM-PBR, the nutrients (mainly N and P) in wastewater continuously permeated into microalgae cultures through the ion-exchange-membrane for microalgae growth, while the pollutants hardly permeated into microalgae cultures. Three types of representative wastewater were investigated to evaluate the performance of the IEM-PBR. When cultivated with wastewater containing excess nutrients, high turbidity and excess heavy metals, microalgae biomass concentrations were significantly improved from 2.34, 2.15 and 0gL(-1) in the traditional PBR to 4.24, 3.13 and 2.04gL(-1) in the IEM-PBR. Correspondingly, the removal efficiencies of N and P in wastewater were also greatly improved by using the IEM-PBR.
To eliminate the negative impacts of pollutants in wastewater (such as suspended solids, excess N, P, heavy metals) on micron>an class="Species">algae growth, an annular ion-exchange-membrane photobioreactor (IEM-PBR) was proposed in this study. The IEM-PBR could avoid direct mixing of algae cells with wastewater by separating them into two chambers. In the IEM-PBR, the nutrients (mainly N and P) in wastewater continuously permeated into microalgae cultures through the ion-exchange-membrane for microalgae growth, while the pollutants hardly permeated into microalgae cultures. Three types of representative wastewater were investigated to evaluate the performance of the IEM-PBR. When cultivated with wastewater containing excess nutrients, high turbidity and excess heavy metals, microalgae biomass concentrations were significantly improved from 2.34, 2.15 and 0gL(-1) in the traditional PBR to 4.24, 3.13 and 2.04gL(-1) in the IEM-PBR. Correspondingly, the removal efficiencies of N and P in wastewater were also greatly improved by using the IEM-PBR.