ABSTRACT
To improve nutrients removal from real centrate wastewater and enhance the microalgae biomass production, cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in lab and a pilot-scale photobioreactor with waste glycerol was studied. The results showed the optimal concentration of the crude glycerol was 1.0gL-1 with the maximum biomass productivity of 460mgL-1d-1 TVS, the maximum lipid content of 27%, the nutrient removal efficiency of all above 86%, due to more balanced C/N ratio. The synergistic relationship between the wastewater-borne bacteria and the microalgae had significant good influence on nutrient removal. In pilot-scale wastewater-based algae cultivation, with 1gL-1 waste glycerol addition, the average biomass production of 16.7gm-2d-1, lipid content of 23.6%, and the removal of 2.4gm-2d-1 NH4+-N, 2.7gm-2d-1 total nitrogen, 3.0gm-2d-1 total phosphorous, and 103.0gm-2d-1 of COD were attained for 34days semi-continuous mode.
