High-performance biological treatment of tuna wash processing wastewater usingYarrowia lipolytica

It is well known that the lack of an effective treatment of tuna wash processing wastewater may pose substantial environmental and public health hazards. The present work investigates the performance of biological treatment of tuna wash processing wastewater (TWPW) by usingYarrowia lipolytica. Under optimized experimental conditions (pH "6.40-6.50" and 29 degrees C),Y. lipolyticareduced the pollution level of the crude and the diluted TWPW after only 7 days of incubation. TheYarrowiatreatment leaded to a reduction of 66% chemical oxygen demand, 69.8% total organic carbon, 66% salinity, and phosphorus total (100%) removal of the crude TWPW, while the treated-diluted TWPW revealed significant reductions in chemical oxygen demand and total organic carbon (75% and 74%, respectively), as well as salinity (68%). Interestingly, a total removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from the diluted TWPW was obtained. Under high salinity, an importantY. lipolyticabiomass of 5 g L(-1)is produced with high levels of lipids and protein contents at around 336 +/- 12.2 mg g(-1)and 302.15 +/- 5.44 mg g(-1), respectively. The phytotoxicity assessment of the treated TWPW on fenugreek seeds shows promising results, which reveals the good performance ofYarrowiatreatment in reducing the toxicity of this wastewater.