Phycoremediation of Wastewater: Heavy Metal and Nutrient Removal Processes

Abstract Phycoremediation is the use of algae for the removal or biotrans-formation of pollutants from wastewater. The study is a novel at-tempt to integrate nutrient (N and P) removal and some heavy met-als (iron, manganese and zinc) bioaccumulation from municipal wastewater using two microalgae species: Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus armatus. The Chlorella vulgaris showed higher re-moval of total nitrogen (TN) both in influent and effluent waste water than Scenedesmus armatus. Nevertheless, more than 51% of total phosphorus (TP) in effluent and 36% in influent wastewaters were removed by Scenedesmus armatus. More efficient microalga in heavy metal removal in influent wastewater was Scenedesmus armatus. The results showed that Chlorella vulgaris was appropriate for TN removal and bioaccumulation of heavy metals from effluent wastewater. Nevertheless, Scenedesmus armatus was highly pref-erable for heavy metals removal from influent wastewater.