TY - JOUR
T1 - Microalgae grow on source separated human urine in Nordic climate
T2 - Outdoor pilot-scale cultivation
AU - Chatterjee, Pritha
AU - Granatier, Marianna
AU - Ramasamy, Praveen
AU - Kokko, Marika
AU - Lakaniemi, Aino-Maija
AU - Rintala, Jukka
N1 - INT=msee,"Granatier, Marianna"
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Human urine contributes approximately 80% of nitrogen and 50% of phosphorous in urban wastewaters while having a volume of only 1–1.5 L/d per capita compared to 150–200 L/d per capita of wastewater generated. There is interest to study source separation of urine and search methods to recover the nutrients form the urine. In this study, the objective was to use the nutrients in source separated urine for outdoor cultivation of microalgae in Nordic climate. A freshwater green microalga Scenedesmus acuminatus was grown in different dilutions (1:20 and 1:15) of source separated human urine, in a semi-continuously operated outdoor raceway pond with a liquid volume of 2000 L, at hydraulic retention time of 15 d. The microalgae could remove 52% nitrogen and 38% phosphorus even at culture temperatures as low as 5 °C, while obtaining a biomass density of 0.34 g VSS/L. Harvested microalgal biomass could be used to produce methane with a yield of 285 L CH4/kg volatile solids.
AB - Human urine contributes approximately 80% of nitrogen and 50% of phosphorous in urban wastewaters while having a volume of only 1–1.5 L/d per capita compared to 150–200 L/d per capita of wastewater generated. There is interest to study source separation of urine and search methods to recover the nutrients form the urine. In this study, the objective was to use the nutrients in source separated urine for outdoor cultivation of microalgae in Nordic climate. A freshwater green microalga Scenedesmus acuminatus was grown in different dilutions (1:20 and 1:15) of source separated human urine, in a semi-continuously operated outdoor raceway pond with a liquid volume of 2000 L, at hydraulic retention time of 15 d. The microalgae could remove 52% nitrogen and 38% phosphorus even at culture temperatures as low as 5 °C, while obtaining a biomass density of 0.34 g VSS/L. Harvested microalgal biomass could be used to produce methane with a yield of 285 L CH4/kg volatile solids.
KW - Microalgae
KW - Nutrient recovery
KW - Raceway pond
KW - Source separated human urine
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.02.074
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.02.074
M3 - Article
SN - 0301-4797
VL - 237
SP - 119
EP - 127
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
ER -