Advanced Biologic Water Treatment Using Algae

An advanced water treatment method processes a continuous flow of water in a sequence of stages including pre-filtering [200] to remove solids, conditioning [202] to adjust pH, blending [210] with a recycled dense microalgae culture, and passing the resulting mixture through an enclosed, environmentally-controlled photobioreactor [212] where nutrients, PCB's, trace metals and other pollutants and regulated compounds are taken up by the algae. The flow from the PBR is separated using cross-flow filtration [222] to produce a treated water flow and a dense microalgae flow that is recycled to the blending stage [210] upstream. Thus, whereas the algae is recycled, the water entering the system is treated by flowing sequentially through the stages of the system, without any recycling or repetition of treatment stages. A pig-type cleaning system is also provided.