The project, spearheaded by lead researchers from Malaysia and Britain, successfully developed an integrated microbial fuel cell prototype using tropical algae from wastewater. The concept’s benefits are three-pronged – producing enough electricity to power a small electronic device, lowering carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, and treating wastewater. The electricity generation can be upscaled and […]

Locally-grown seaweed has been selling out faster than producers can make it. Pia Winberg opened a pilot farm in Bomaderry a year and a half ago. The tiny farm, just .05 of a hectare, produces a unique form of Australian seaweed using nutrients from waste water at Manildra. It’s a world first, in terms of offsetting waste from […]

Columbus Junction could count itself among pioneering cities in the struggle to treat wastewater if the city council approves new technology that favors algae over bacteria. If approved by DNR, Columbus Junction could be the first town to receive a commercial installation system.  The new system would cost Columbus Junction about $2.2 million, while using […]

Clearas Water Recovery, a US based company has developed a process to use algae to remove nitrogen and phosphorous from public wastewater treatment plants, keeping waterways from being inundated with the compounds that starve fish and plant life of oxygen. In turn, the algae can be sold to other companies for fertilizer, biofuels and other uses. […]

The treatment of saline wastewater in the presence of organic content represents a challenge for many industrial sectors. SaltGae project aims to develop and demonstrate a techno-economically viable solution for the treatment of saline wastewater using algae. Moreover, this project will represent a case study for demonstration of SaltGae solutions to the cross-cutting barriers to […]

A sustainable wastewater recycling system is being promoted to some of the world’s poorest communities after successful trials in South Australia. Pioneered by Flinders University, the Flinders High Rate Algal Pond (HRAP) wastewater treatment system has been showcased at a presentation at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, US. They hope that the […]

Iowa State University has come up with a new technology that improves the efficiency of waste water reclamation. The new technology could be economical for small town waste water treatment. Conventional methods use bacterial process that result in sludge with a foul smell and disposal issues. But this new method uses vertical conveyor belts which […]

Scientists from Singapore performed an experiment where a microfiltration-based membrane photobioreactor (MPBR) and forward osmosis-based osmotic membrane photobioreactor (OMPBR) was operated with Chlorella vulgaris for continuous tertiary wastewater treatment. Results indicated that the integration of membrane filtration with photobioreactors is promising in microalgae-based tertiary wastewater treatment. More

Scientists performed an experiment to examine the biomass growth and nutrient removal in MPBRs operated at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 1 and 4 days. Chlorella vulgaris was used as the inoculant. Results showed that membrane photobioreactors have the potential to operate at shorter HRTs (1 day) as compared to PBRs (2 – 5 […]

To overcome the limitations of conventional techniques used for waste water treatment, scientists from Spain performed an experiment where an interaction process microalgae-bacteria appeared as a sustainable and respectful option with the environment. These processes are based on oxidation of organic matter from wastewater by heterotrophic bacteria. These oxidation products are assimilated by microalgae during […]

Scientists at Algae Systems LLC, USA have designed a novel approach to wastewater treatment using algae grown in modular, offshore photobioreactors. The experiment was carried out at the Algae Systems plant in Daphne AL, where the process was used to treat up to 50,000 gal/day of raw waste water. A combination of algal nutrient uptake, […]

Phycospectrum Environmental Research Centre (PERC) from India has developed and successfully demonstrated microalgae based technology for reverse osmosis at Brintons Carpets Asia Pvt ltd, India. The R/O reject from Brintons has a TDS of 20,000 to 25,000 mg/L and this was continuously loaded into a 10 KL demonstration plant in which selected microalgae were also […]

Researchers from Sweden conducted an experiment to analyse the effect of inhibiting nitrification on algal growth and nutrient uptake in municipal waste water treating photobioreactors. Allylthiourea was used to inhibit nitrification process. The nitrification inhibited reactors were compared to control reactors. Results showed that higher growth of microalgae was seen in inhibited reactors resulting in […]

Researchers from USA conducted an experiment to demonstrate the limiting factor to algae growth on dairy wastewaters. Dairy waste waters were mixed with slaughter house wastewaters to improve the ammonia nitrogen content. Results showed that algae grown on such wastewaters had higher protein and oil content. Further the process also reduced nutrient contents remaining in […]

Treatment or remediation of wastewater using algae is called phycoremediation. There are two different systems of algae-based wastewater treatment. They are Waste Stabilization Pond Systems (WSPs) and High Rate Algal Ponds (HRAP), both of which are secondary treatment methods. In the first type, wastewater treatment is achieved by mutualistic growth of microalgae and heterotrophic bacteria. […]

OriginOil has developed a process to treat liquid sewage at the point of origin and use it to feed and grow algae for fuel. A prototype of the system, known as the Electro Water Separation system, is now installed at an urban algae demonstration site near Paris. Human sewage is first separated into solids and […]

Millwood-based Inland Empire Paper Co. is studying a new biological technology to reduce the amount of phosphorus in the wastewater it discharges into the Spokane River during its paper-making process. For about two years, the 100-year-old paper mill has been working with Corvallis, Mont.-based AlgEvolve Inc., to study a wastewater treatment technology that company has […]