Nutrient Removal and Membrane Performance of an Algae Membrane Photobioreactor in Urban Wastewater Regeneration.

The increase in industry and population, together with the need for wastewater reuse, makes it necessary to implement new technologies in the circular economy framework. The aim of this research was to evaluate the quality of the effluent of an algae membrane photobioreactor for the treatment of the effluent of an urban wastewater treatment plant, to characterise the ultrafiltration membranes, to study the effectiveness of a proposed cleaning protocol, and to analyse the performance of the photobioreactor. The photobioreactor operated under two days of hydraulic retention times feed with the effluent from the Los Vados wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) (Granada, Spain).

Microalgae bioreactor for nutrient removal and resource recovery from wastewater in the paradigm of circular economy.

Every day, large quantities of wastewater are discharged from various sources that could be reused. Wastewater contains nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus, which can be recovered. Microalgae-based technologies have attracted attention in this sector, as they are able to bioremediate wastewater, harnessing its nutrients and generating algal biomass useful for different downstream uses, as well as having other advantages.