Citation:

Maeng, S., S. You, J. Nam, H. Ryu, T. Timmes, AND H. Kim. The growth of Scenedesmus quadricauda in RO concentrate and the impacts on refractory organic matter, Escherichia coli, and trace organic compounds. WATER RESEARCH. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 134:292-300, (2018).

Impact/Purpose:

Reverse osmosis (RO) is increasingly used for the tertiary treatment and indirect reuse of the secondary effluent from urban wastewater. The concentrate resulting from the filtration processes commonly contains high concentrations of dissolved salts, recalcitrant organics, and trace organic compounds (TOrCs). In particular, the strength and recalcitrance of effluent organic matter (EfOM) can be affected by both the characteristics of the raw sewage and the performance of the reclamation processes typically involved in biological treatment processes. We have demonstrated that microalgae-based treatment is very effective at removing organic and inorganic components from a wide range of recalcitrant wastewaters.

Description:

This study achieves a better operational simplicity for the phycoremediation of reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate using Scenedesmus quadricauda microalgae. Under continuous illumination with CO2 supplementation, algal growth in the RO concentrate resulted in a conversion of polymeric organic matter (a mixture of humic substances and polysaccharides) to biodegradable fractions and their prompt removal along with inorganic nutrients (NO3− and PO43−). This is the first time that S. quadricauda is shown to induce the degradation of humic-like substances in the RO concentrate that are typically refractory to microbial decomposition. In this study, we also investigated the effects of algae treatment on the growth of Escherichia coli and removal of trace organic compounds (TOrCs) from the RO concentrate. Our results indicate that the use of algal treatment is highly feasible as a safe and inexpensive technology to remove non- or slowly-biodegradable organics, reduce enteric bacteria, and attenuate TOrCs in wastewater.

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