Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6580806 | Chemical Engineering Journal | 2018 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
In this study, the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on algal biomass production and nutrient removal was investigated in membrane photobioreactors (MPBRs) in which Chlorella vulgaris was cultured with secondary effluent. The results indicated that decreasing the HRT improved the algal biomass productivity. MPBR that operated at an HRT of 2.0â¯d obtained the largest productivity of algal biomass. For nutrient removal, MPBR that operated at longer HRT showed a greater reduction in influent nutrients. An MPBR that operated at an HRT of 2.0â¯d was then chosen to study the long-term operation of the reactor. Microalgae suspensions were continuously harvested from the MPBR at a certain rate, which was calculated using an equation based on the nitrogen balance of the reactor. Therefore, the MPBR ran stably for 130â¯days, with an HRT and biomass retention time (BRT) of 2.0 d and 21.1â¯d, respectively. The algal biomass concentration in the MPBR remained at a relatively stable level of 1.035-1.524â¯gâ¯Lâ1 throughout the cultivation period. The nutrient in the influent was also effectively removed, with effluent nutrient concentrations ranging from 1.76 to 3.82â¯mgâ¯Lâ1 and 0.01 to 0.14â¯mgâ¯Lâ1 for DIN and DIP, respectively. Our study of membrane fouling showed that the membrane resistance, cake resistance and inner resistance contributed 6.7%, 39.1%, and 54.2% of the total resistance in MPBR, respectively.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Chemical Engineering (General)
Authors
Feng Gao, Yuan-Yuan Peng, Chen Li, Wei Cui, Zhao-Hui Yang, Guang-Ming Zeng,