Phycoremediation by spirulina platensis for ammoniacal nitrogen reduction

Lydia, Lee Shin Nuo (2017) Phycoremediation by spirulina platensis for ammoniacal nitrogen reduction. [Final Year Project Report] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Rapid growth of industrial sector had become one of the major causes of water pollution as large amount of ammoniacal nitrogen present in the industrial effluent and degraded the water quality. To reduce the industrial effluent impact on the environment, all premises and factories are required to comply with the Act of Environment Quality (Industrial Effluents) Regulation 2009. Thus, phycoremediation via Spirulina platensis is proposed herewith to overcome the issue. Ammoniacal nitrogen in the industrial effluent that can be used as the nitrogen source for the growth of Spirulina platensis. To obtain optimum growth of Spirulina platensis, few parameters such as pH, retention rate and ratio of Spirulina platensis to industrial effluent are studied. Based on the research done, the optimum pH is found to be at 10 which produces highest OD of Sp. and has the most Total Ammoniacal Nitrogen (TAN) reduced. However, the photosynthetic activity is impaired as there is no changes in pH value throughout the experiment. This occur may due to the high ammoniacal content in the industrial effluent. At pH 10, the percentage of TAN reduced is about 51.62% with amount of TAN reduced to 8.56 mg/L that is able to comply with the TAN standard set by Department of Environment (DOE). Based on the study done on the ratio of Spirulina platensis to industrial effluent, it is found that the high composition of industrial effluent in the culture will cause depression on Sp. growth and affect the photosynthesis process of Sp. The optimum ratio of Spirulina platensis to industrial effluent is 3:2 as it able to shows high cell mass production and high photosynthetic activities. At the ratio of Sp. to industrial effluent of 3:2, the TAN is able to be reduced to 5.72 mg/L that is able to comply with the standard set. The ideal retention rate found in this study is 3 days where the exponential phase is seen in this period and the assimilation rate is at its maximum in this period. Based on the optimization done in preliminary experiment, the TAN reduction efficiency of 77.78% is achieved for a retention rate of 3 days.

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