Microalgae-bacteria consortium: sustainable strategy for renewable energy production and tertiary treatment of sanitary wastewater

• Grant number: 22/07475-3
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Agreement: FACEPE
• Principal Investigator: Gustavo Henrique Ribeiro da Silva
• Grantee: Gustavo Henrique Ribeiro da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ana Teresa Lombardi ; Germán Buitrón Méndez ; Graziele Ruas Lagôas da Silva ; Heitor Cantarella ; Inês Cechin ; Inessa Lacativa Bagatini ; Raul Muñoz Torre ; Rodrigo Braga Moruzzi ; Tânia Vasconcelos Fernandes

Abstract

In Brazil, water supply and domestic sewage services account for approximately 2% of the electricity consumed in the country, and this consumption accounts for 15.4% of the sanitation sector's expenditure. Extreme climate events are becoming more frequent and they have globally driven the transition of the energy matrix to environmental-friendly options. The aim of the new wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), whenever possible, is now directed towards energy self-sufficiency. It is known that existing WWTP's have high energy costs and they waste water and valuable nutrients, besides causing the emission of residual pollutant loads in the environment. Anaerobic-aerobic technologies, extensively employed in Brazil for pollution removal, can be optimised to produce biofuel and biogas. In view of these potentialities, the present proposal aims to optimise the growth of microalgae in photobioreactors (open and closed), either as post-treatment of sewage sanitary and as for the grow of microalgae with subsequent separation and concentration of resulting biomass. From the algal biomass, it is intended to conduct a research over pre-treatment strategies, in order to maximise the biogas production in UASB and sequential batch-type reactors, to assess the possibility of recovering exopolymers and also to study the feasibility of using the residual biomass as agricultural fertiliser. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PRADO, LARISSA DE OLIVEIRA; BOLZANI, HUGO RENAN; SOUZA, HUGO HENRIQUE DE SIMONE; RUAS, GRAZIELE; DA SILVA, GUSTAVO HENRIQUE RIBEIRO. Microalgal cultivation in open and closed systems under a tropical climate: A life cycle comparison. JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION, v. 422, p. 13-pg., 2023-09-06. (22/07475-3, 18/18367-1)