Effects of nutrient load on microalgal productivity and community composition grown in anaerobically digested food-waste centrate

Sutherland, DL; Burke, J; Leal, E; Ralph, PJ

Effects of nutrient load on microalgal productivity and community composition grown in anaerobically digested food-waste centrate

Sutherland, DL Burke, J Leal, E Ralph, PJ

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Publisher:: ELSEVIER
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Algal Research, 2020, 51
Issue Date:: 2020-10-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Sutherland, DL
dc.contributor.author	Burke, J
dc.contributor.author	Leal, E
dc.contributor.author	Ralph, PJ
dc.date.accessioned	2020-11-20T03:59:03Z
dc.date.available	2020-11-20T03:59:03Z
dc.date.issued	2020-10-01
dc.identifier.citation	Algal Research, 2020, 51
dc.identifier.issn	2211-9264
dc.identifier.issn	2211-9264
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/144182
dc.description.abstract	© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Anaerobic digestion of food waste has many environmental benefits over traditional landfilling and is a promising technology to convert food waste to energy. However, the centrate, a liquid by-product of anaerobic digestion, is high in total ammonia, with concentrations ~20,000 g m−3, which requires treatment being discharged to the environment. Microalgae offer a promising and cost-effective treatment solution for this centrate but some dilution is required to prevent free-ammonia inhibition. In this study, we investigate the performance of microalgae, grown outdoors in high rate algal mesocosms, under three different total ammonia loads i) 20 g m−3 (20N), ii) 60 g m−3 (60 N) and iii) 100 g m−3 (100N). Both total suspended solids (TSS) and volatile suspended solids (VSS) increased with increasing nutrient load, with 100 N significantly higher (p < .01) than 60 N and 20 N biomass. The percentage nitrogen uptake was significantly higher in 20 N compared to 60 N (p < .05) and 100 N (p < .01). In contrast, the percentage biological uptake of phosphorus (P) did not differ significantly between treatments. Total microalgal biovolume increased with increasing nutrient load with nine species of chlorophytes (green algae) observed across all treatments throughout the experiment. Bray–Curtis percentage similarities between the microalgal community relative abundance, showed that the community in the 100 N treatment was at least 50% dissimilar to 20 N and 60 N, which were at least 75% similar to each other throughout the course of the experiment. These results indicate the capability of microalgae to bioremediate centrate from anaerobically digested food waste with high ammonia loading. Coupled centrate treatment and resource recovery could help support the circular bioeconomy.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	ELSEVIER
dc.relation.ispartof	Algal Research
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.algal.2020.102037
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.subject	0607 Plant Biology, 0904 Chemical Engineering, 1003 Industrial Biotechnology
dc.title	Effects of nutrient load on microalgal productivity and community composition grown in anaerobically digested food-waste centrate
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	51
utslib.for	0607 Plant Biology
utslib.for	0904 Chemical Engineering
utslib.for	1003 Industrial Biotechnology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - C3 - Climate Change Cluster
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	false
dc.date.updated	2020-11-20T03:58:55Z
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	51

Abstract:

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Anaerobic digestion of food waste has many environmental benefits over traditional landfilling and is a promising technology to convert food waste to energy. However, the centrate, a liquid by-product of anaerobic digestion, is high in total ammonia, with concentrations ~20,000 g m−3, which requires treatment being discharged to the environment. Microalgae offer a promising and cost-effective treatment solution for this centrate but some dilution is required to prevent free-ammonia inhibition. In this study, we investigate the performance of microalgae, grown outdoors in high rate algal mesocosms, under three different total ammonia loads i) 20 g m−3 (20N), ii) 60 g m−3 (60 N) and iii) 100 g m−3 (100N). Both total suspended solids (TSS) and volatile suspended solids (VSS) increased with increasing nutrient load, with 100 N significantly higher (p < .01) than 60 N and 20 N biomass. The percentage nitrogen uptake was significantly higher in 20 N compared to 60 N (p < .05) and 100 N (p < .01). In contrast, the percentage biological uptake of phosphorus (P) did not differ significantly between treatments. Total microalgal biovolume increased with increasing nutrient load with nine species of chlorophytes (green algae) observed across all treatments throughout the experiment. Bray–Curtis percentage similarities between the microalgal community relative abundance, showed that the community in the 100 N treatment was at least 50% dissimilar to 20 N and 60 N, which were at least 75% similar to each other throughout the course of the experiment. These results indicate the capability of microalgae to bioremediate centrate from anaerobically digested food waste with high ammonia loading. Coupled centrate treatment and resource recovery could help support the circular bioeconomy.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/144182