Wastewater Treatment Using Algae – A Comprehensive Guide from Oilgae

Wastewater Remediation – A Critical Problem

Sustainable remediation of wastewater – both from municipal from industrial sources – is a critical need world over. Many of the current practices used in remediation either rely on expensive and sometimes environment-unfriendly chemicals or in using considerable amounts of energy. Neither of these aspects is sustainable in the long run.

Problems in Wastewater and Sewage Treatment

While a number of methods are currently being used for sewage treatment and industrial waste water treatments at effluent treatment plants (ETP), these are very expensive methods that rely on high-cost chemicals and heavy inputs of energy. As a result, these industries are keen on pursuing a method that can be cost effective and can provide a sustainable, long-term solution for treatment of waste water and sewage.

Water Treatment Market – Potential and Possibilities

The market for wastewater treatment and flow control under a broad definition will grow to $484 billion worldwide in 2010.

Thus, sustainable wastewater treatment methods have excellent business potential.

Bioremediation – A Wastewater Treatment Route with High Potential

Municipalities, communities and industries the world over are keenly exploring bioremediation as an important route by which to clean up waste water. Bioremediation uses naturally occurring microorganisms and other aspects of the natural environment to treat wastewater of its nutrients. Such an avenue provides an economical and environmentally sustainable treatment method.

Algae and Wastewater

Algae are an important bioremediation agent, and are already being used by many wastewater facilities, either by accident or through design. The role that algae can play in wastewater remediation is however much higher than its current role.

Algae-based remediation of wastewater is not without its challenges; however, the potential is so high and the problem so critical that there are a number of research efforts – both in the academia and in the commercial sector – ongoing in order to address these challenges.

Presenting the Comprehensive Report for Wastewater Treatment Using Algae

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The Comprehensive Report for Wastewater Treatment Using Algae was prepared by Oilgae (www.oilgae.com) as a response to the tremendous need in the market for a detailed resource that provided a compendium of practical data, insights and case studies for algae-based wastewater treatment efforts worldwide.

For industries and companies both large and small keen on exploring the potential of using algae for bioremediation of waste water and sewage, the comprehensive report will be an invaluable guide.

The focus of the report is to provide guidance that can facilitate actions on the part of the academia and the commercial sector. Hence, inputs and data that have been provided have a slant towards real life case studies and experiments.

This report was prepared by Oilgae, an authoritative source of information and data for the algae energy domain. The report was last updated in the first week of Oct 2009.

Specific challenges and questions for which answers are provided in the report

• What are the best strains of algae for wastewater and sewage treatment?
• At which stage of wastewater treatment are algae is introduced?
• What are the costs and economics of algae-based wastewater remediation?
• What are the differences between algae-based treatment for municipal sewage and industrial wastewater?
• What are the external nutrient requirements for cultivating algae in wastewater?
  • As sewage already contains nutrient, is there any need for additional nutrients for algae cultivation in sewage?
• What could be the environmental bottlenecks for algae-based wastewater remediation?
  • Are there algae predators in sewage?
  • Will toxins affect algae growth in sewage?
  • What are the natural microfloras in sewage?
• What are the various end-uses to which the algae biomass from sewage and wastewater can be put to?
• Which is the best algae harvesting method for sewage cultivation?
• What are the future possibilities in microbe-based waste water remediation in general and microalgae-based remediation in specific?
• Is sewage and wastewater based algae cultivation for producing biofuels an attractive business opportunity?

Who Will Most Benefit from this Guide?

The report focuses on the potential of algae waste water treatment, and provides critical inputs and expert intelligence on current efforts, bottlenecks, costs and challenges facing this vital segment.

The report comprises details of efforts being done in the field of algae-based waste water and sewage treatment. Special focus is provided on details with regard to the costs, and cultivation of strains which can thrive in waste water and sewage.

Examples of industries that can benefit from the report:

• Meat and Poultry
• Pulp and Paper
• Textiles Dyeing
• Metal Finishing
• Dyes & Pigments
• Pharmaceutical
• Food & Dairy
• Biotechnology
• Starch & Cellulose
• Pesticides & Insecticides
• Chemical & Drug Formulation Units
• Fertilizers
• Photography

The report showcases the advantages of algae as an excellent starting material for waste water bioremediation.

Insights and intelligence, not just information

Compiled by a diverse team of experts, with experience in scientific and industrial fields, the Comprehensive Report for Wastewater Treatment Using Algae is the first report that provides in-depth analysis and insights on this important field. It uses innumerable data and information from a wide variety of expert sources and market studies, and distills these inputs and data into intelligence and a roadmap that you can use.

Have any Questions / Payment problems ? Let me help you, Write to us here., Name : Email : Message :

The Oilgae team would like to talk to you to understand how we can help you in your algae fuel efforts. If you are interested in purchasing the report or getting our help, talk to us now. Narsi Santhanam Email: narsi@oilgae.com Mobile: +91-98413-48117 (India)

Reference

Algae-Based Wastewater Treatment vs. Traditional Methods

Interesting advantages of using algae wastewater against conventional waste water treatment have been discussed in detail in the report.

Using algae has been shown to be a more cost effective way to remove biochemical oxygen demand, pathogens, phosphorus and nitrogen than activated sludge against the traditional wastewater treatment processes at ETPs (effluent treatment plants) which involves high energy costs of mechanical aeration to provide oxygen to aerobic bacteria to consume the organic compounds in the wastewater.

Algae provide an efficient way to consume nutrients and provide the aerobic bacteria with the needed oxygen through photosynthesis. Roughly one kg of BOD removed in an activated sludge process requires one kWh of electricity for aeration, which produces one kg of fossil CO2 from power generation. By contrast, one kg of BOD removed by photosynthetic oxygenation requires no energy inputs and produces enough algal biomass to generate methane that can produce one kWh of electric power.

Algae for Wastewater Treatment & Biofuels

Algae grow best off waste streams - agricultural, animal, or human. All over the world, municipalities and utilities spend enormous sums to treat wastewater and sewage and remove them of pollutants and impurities. Some of the pollutants in the wastewater and sewage are nutrients on which algae thrive. Yet another fact is that the algae that grow in human-sewage tend to have a lot of oil. Combine the above three facts and you get a rather interesting solution: Grow algae in sewage/wastewater to clean the medium while producing biofuels!

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Algae, especially microalgae can bio-filter nutrient-laden, CO2-laden and low-oxygen water and turn it into oxygen-rich, CO2-low water as it flows back into the ecosystem, while simultaneously producing oil.

One of the key advantages is that, apart from the fact that expensive reactor systems are not required, unlike other algal-biofuel technologies this approach relies on ‘wild algae’ – i.e., algae that naturally colonize sewage ponds already.

The advantage of algae-based waste water treatment is the end-product in the process – algae biomass, which can be used as a biofuel feedstock.

Given the right conditions, algae can double its volume overnight. Microalgae are the earth’s most productive plants – 10 to 15 times more prolific in biomass than the fastest growing land plant exploited for biofuel production. While soy produces some 50 gallons of oil per acre per year; canola, 150 gallons; and palm, 650 gallons, algae can produce up to 15,000 gallons per acre per year. In addition, up to 50 percent of biomass for some microalgae is comprised of oil, whereas oil-palm trees - currently the most efficient large-scale source of feedstock oil to make biofuels - yield approximately 20 percent of their weight in oil.

Oil from microalgae can easily be converted to biofuels such as biodiesel through the same technology used with oil from oil seeds which is currently used to convert vegetable oil to biodiesel (transesterification is the main conversion process). In addition, it is possible to hydro-treat the algae oil to produce other fuels such as JP-8 and other jet fuels.

The algae-based waste water and sewage treatment thus provides an interesting business opportunity - bioremediation of waste water / sewage and the simultaneous production of biofuels.

Have any Questions / Payment problems ? Let me help you, Write to us here., Name : Email : Message :

The Oilgae team would like to talk to you to understand how we can help you in your algae fuel efforts. If you are interested in purchasing the report or getting our help, talk to us now. Narsi Santhanam Email: narsi@oilgae.com Mobile: +91-98413-48117 (India)