Treatment of cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater and the reuse of sludge for biodiesel production by microalgal heterotrophic bioreactors

Microalgal heterotrophic bioreactors are a potential technological development that can convert organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus of wastewaters into a biomass suitable for energy production. The aim of this work was to evaluate the performance of microalgal heterotrophic bioreactors in the secondary treatment of cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater and the reuse of microalgal sludge for biodiesel production. The experiments were performed in a bubble column bioreactor using the microalgae Phormidium sp. Heterotrophic microalgal bioreactors removed 90 % of the chemical oxygen demand, 57 % of total nitrogen and 52 % of total phosphorus. Substantial microalgal sludge is produced in the process (substrate yield coefficient of 0.43 mg sludge mg chemical oxygen demand−¹), resulting in a biomass with high potential for producing biodiesel (ester content of more than 99 %, cetane number of 55, iodine value of 73.5 g iodine 100 g−¹, unsaturation degree of ~75 % and a cold filter plugging point of 5 ºC).

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maroneze,Mariana Manzoni, Barin,Juliano Smanioto, Menezes,Cristiano Ragagnin de, Queiroz,Maria Isabel, Zepka,Leila Queiroz, Jacob-Lopes,Eduardo
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" 2014
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-90162014000600011
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