Feasibility of Nutrient Removal and Recovery from Abattoir Wastewater Using Microalgae

Sofia Chaudry, Arsalan Alavianghavanini, Pooya Darvehei, Navid R. Moheimani () and Parisa A. Bahri
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Sofia Chaudry: Engineering and Energy, College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
Arsalan Alavianghavanini: Engineering and Energy, College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
Pooya Darvehei: Engineering and Energy, College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
Navid R. Moheimani: Algae R & D Centre, Environmental and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
Parisa A. Bahri: Engineering and Energy, College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: The wastewater produced from the meat-processing industry is a rich source of nutrients which can be recovered using microalgae. This study assesses the potential of microalgae cultivation on abattoir wastewater based on its nutrient removal capacity from wastewater, biomass production and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings potential. Designing the treatment ponds at the recycling rate of almost 80% of treated water results in high-quality water containing less than 1 mg/L nitrogen and 12 mg/L phosphorus. At the same time, the process can produce valuable algal biomass (≈2 kg/m 3 of abattoir wastewater) which can be further dewatered to make the process either economically self-sufficient or profit-making depending upon the use of algal biomass. It can finally avoid GHG emissions from 3.46 kg CO 2 -eq to 6.11 kg CO 2 -eq per m 3 of wastewater treated depending upon the credit of the product displaced by the algal biomass.

Keywords: waste-to-profit; wastewater treatment; anaerobic digestor effluent; nutrient recovery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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