Conditions for continuous cultivation of Chlorella sorokiniana and nutrient removal from anaerobic digestion effluent of aquatic macrophytes

Continuous cultivations of the microalga Chlorella sorokiniana using 10-L flat-panel bioreactors were conducted at different pH levels and hydraulic retention times (HRT) under natural light conditions to accomplish the maximum algal yields and high nutrient removal from anaerobic digestion effluent (ADE) of aquatic macrophytes, which contained high concentrations of ammonium-nitrogen and phosphate-phosphorus, but less available magnesium (Mg). In subsequent experiments, Mg was enriched directly or indirectly by lowering the pH in the original ADE as source medium of a flow-through system to increase the amount of available Mg for algal growth. In the Mg-enrichment experiment, a constant maximum algal yield, 0.7 g dry-weight L−1, was obtained at HRT of 5 days, and removal efficiencies in both ammonium-nitrogen and phosphate-phosphorus were >94%. The pH-controlled experiment was conducted at HRTs of 5 and 10 days at two different pH levels (5.0 and 6.5) of the source ADE. Finally, similar algal yields and nutrient removals were obtained using source ADE at pH 6.5 and 10 days HRT as those in the Mg-enrichment experiment. We demonstrated that pH control in the source ADE through continuous cultivation at the relatively longer HRT can help to maximize algal yield and improve nutrient removal without Mg enrichment. •A 10-L flow-through reactor was developed to culture algae from ADE of macrophytes.•0.7 g L−1 algal biomass was harvested from Mg-enriched ADE under HRT of 5 days.•>90% of NH4–N and PO4–P were constantly removed by this algal cultivation system.•Same algal yield and nutrient removal can be obtained by pH control as Mg addition.•Longer HRT compensate for less algal production due to low solar irradiance.