Integrated Treatment of Pig Production Wastewaters Using Pre-treatment with Biomass Ash and Bioremediation by Microalgae

Catarina Viegas¹* and Margarida Gonçalves^1,2

¹Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center (MEtRICs), NOVA School of Science and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal
²Centro de Investigação Para a Valorização de Recursos Endógenos (VALORIZA), Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre, Portalegre, Portugal

*Corresponding Author: Catarina Viegas, Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center (MEtRICs), NOVA School of Science and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal.

Received: June 08, 2021; Published: June 24, 2021

Abstract

Animal production leads to effluents with high loads of macro and micronutrients, and therefore with a huge potential of water bodies eutrophication. Conventional wastewater treatments are expensive, energy-consuming, release greenhouse gases (GHG), and produce a residual sludge. The use of microalgae for wastewater treatment allows recovery of nutrients (N, P, COD), minimize GHG emissions, and can significantly reduce costs relatively to conventional treatments. Microalgae have been used in the bioremediation of various effluents, such as sewage, manure, brewery, dairy, urban, among others.

In this work, piggery effluents were remediated by combining a physico-chemical pre-treatment with biomass ash and bioremediation with microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorella protothecoides and Tetradesmus obliquus). The mixture of piggery effluent with biomass ash was stirred and fractionated by decantation to yield a liquid fraction and a solid precipitate. The fortification of the liquid fraction with olive-oil mill wastewater was also evaluated. Microalgae grown in the pre-treated effluent, in semi-continuous mode reached productivities of 258 and 237 mg L^-1day^-1 for C. vulgaris and T. obliquus, respectively. Both microalgae reached nutrient removal efficiencies of 100, 100, 90, and 100% for N, P, COD, and BOD₅, respectively. The microalgae composition was evaluated in terms of protein, sugar, lipid, fatty acids and ash contents.

The produced microalgae biomass was tested as biostimulants for the germination of wheat and watercress seeds with positive results, namely the fortification with C. vulgaris biomass produced an increase of 86% in the germination index of watercress seeds. The solid precipitate was tested as fertilizer for the germination of the same seeds, but the results were not as good as applying the algal biomass.

Keywords: Bioremediation; Wastewater Treatment; Piggery Effluents; Biomass Ash; Olive-oil Mill Wastewater; Fertilization

References

1. L Gouveia., et al. “Microalgae biomass production using wastewater: Treatment and costs. Scale-up considerations”. Algal Research 16 (2016): 167-176.
2. “Animal output - basic and producer prices”. European Statistics (2018).
3. “Agriculture, forestry and fishery statistics in the EU, 2019 editi”. Luxembourg: European Commission (2019).
4. S MacLeod., et al. “Greenhouse gas emissions from pig and chicken supply chains - A global life cycle assessment”. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2013).
5. L Ho., et al. “Spatial and temporal variations of greenhouse gas emissions from a waste stabilization pond: Effects of sludge distribution and accumulation”. Water Research 193 (2021): 116858.
6. I Siddique and Z A Wahid. “Achievements and perspectives of anaerobic co-digestion: a review”. Journal of Cleaner Production (2018).
7. R Wang., et al. “The research progress of CO2 sequestration by algal bio-fertilizer in China”. Journal of CO2 Utilization 11 (2015): 67-70.
8. C Viegas., et al. “Aquaculture wastewater treatment through microalgal. Biomass potential applications on animal feed, agriculture, and energy”. Journal of Environmental Management 286 (2021): 112187.
9. I D Barbosa Segundo., et al. “Sulphur compounds removal from an industrial landfill leachate by catalytic oxidation and chemical precipitation: From a hazardous effluent to a value-added product”. Science of the Total Environment 655 (2019): 1249-1260.
10. Y L Li., et al. “Simultaneous chemical oxygen demand removal, methane production and heavy metal precipitation in the biological treatment of landfill leachate using acid mine drainage as sulfate resource”. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering 1 (2017): 71-75.
11. D Abiriga., et al. “Long-term redox conditions in a landfill-leachate-contaminated groundwater”. Science of the Total Environment 3800 (2021): 143725.
12. ID Barbosa Segundo., et al. “Development of a treatment train for the remediation of a hazardous industrial waste landfill leachate: A big challenge”. Science of the Total Environment 741 (2020).
13. T A Kurniawan., et al. “Physico-chemical treatments for removal of recalcitrant contaminants from landfill leachate”. Journal of Hazardous Materials 1-3 (2006): 80-100.
14. G Ondrasek., et al. “Biomass bottom ash and dolomite similarly ameliorate an acidic low-nutrient soil, improve phytonutrition and growth, but increase Cd accumulation in radish”. Science of the Total Environment 753 (2021).
15. F C Silva., et al. “Use of biomass ash-based materials as soil fertilisers: Critical review of the existing regulatory framework”. Journal of Cleaner Production 214 (2019): 112-124.
16. J Fořt., et al. “Biomass fly ash as an alternative to coal fly ash in blended cements: Functional aspects”. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021).
17. J H Park., et al. “Exploration of the potential capacity of fly ash and bottom ash derived from wood pellet-based thermal power plant for heavy metal removal”. Science of the Total Environment 740 (2020): 140205.
18. Renou S., et al. “Lime treatment of stabilized leachates”. Water Science and Technology 4 (209): 673-685.
19. G Markou., et al. “Cultivation of Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis in olive-oil mill wastewater treated with sodium hypochlorite”. Bioresource Technology 112 (2012): 234-241.
20. “Market situation in the olive oil and table olives sectors”. Agriculture and Rural Development (2020): 1-27.
21. R A I Abou-Shanab., et al. “Microalgal species growing on piggery wastewater as a valuable candidate for nutrient removal and biodiesel production”. Journal of Environmental Management 115 (2013): 257-264.
22. “Algal Culture Medium Recipes”. UTEX Culture Collection of Algae (2020). .
23. FA Ansari., et al. “Microalgal cultivation using aquaculture wastewater: Integrated biomass generation and nutrient remediation”. Algal Research 21 (2017): 169-177.
24. EW Rice., et al. “Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater”. 23th ed. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, Water Environment Federation (2017).
25. V Singleton., et al. “Analysis of total phenols and other oxidation substrates and antioxidants by means of Folin-Ciocalteu Reagent”. Methods in Enzymology 299 (1999): 152-178.
26. Portuguese Ministry of the Environment. “Decree-Law No. 236/98, 1998, of the Portuguese Ministry of the Environment of 1 August Establishing Water Quality Standards”. Diário da República - Série I 176 (1998): 3676-3722.
27. AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists), Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International, 18th editi. Association of Official Analytical Chemists (2006).
28. D B Jones. “Factors for converting percentages of nitrogen in food and feed into percentages of proteins”. United States Dep. Agric Circular 183 (1931): 1-22.
29. JR Miranda., et al. “Pre-treatment optimization of Scenedesmus obliquus microalga for bioethanol production”. Bioresource Technology 104 (2012): 342-348.
30. M Dubois., et al. “Colorimetric Method for Determination of Sugars and Related Substances”. Annals of Chemistry 3 (1956): 350-356.
31. S Nagappan., et al. “Direct saponification of wet microalgae by methanolic potassium hydroxide using acetone as co-solvent”. Bioresource Technology Reports 5 (2019): 351-354.
32. APHA (American Public Health Association), Standard Methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 22th editi. Washington D.C.: American Public Health Association (2012).
33. F Zucconi., et al. “Biological evaluation of compost maturity”. BioCycle4 (1981): 27-29.
34. MC Monteiro., et al. “Validação de um Composto como Fertilizante para Efeitos de Legalização de Uso Agrícola”. IPCB. ESA (2011).
35. “Inherent Factors Affecting Soil Organic Matter” (2010).
36. X Deng., et al. “Spatial and temporal trends of soil total nitrogen and C/N ratio for croplands of East China”. Geoderma 361 (2018): 114035.
37. Portuguese Ministry of the Environment, “Regime jurídico de utilização agrícola das lamas de depuração em solos agrícolas”. Diário da República 12 (2009): 7154-7165.
38. B Porto., et al. “Assessing the potential of microalgae for nutrients removal from a landfill leachate using an innovative tubular photobioreactor”. Chemical Engineering Journal 413 (2021).
39. Valente., et al. “Microalgae as feed ingredients for livestock production and aquaculture”. in Microalgae - Cultivation, Recovery of Compounds and Applications, 1st ed., C. M. Galanakis, Ed. Academic Press (2021): 239-312.
40. M S Madeira., et al. “Microalgae as feed ingredients for livestock production and meat quality: A review”. Livestcok Science 205 (2017): 111-121.
41. A Šimkus., et al. “The effect of blue algae spirulina platensis on pig growth performance and carcass and meat quality”. Veterinarija ir Zootechnika 83 (2013): 70-74.
42. R Ekmay., et al. “Nutritional and metabolic impacts of a defatted green marine microalgal (Desmodesmus sp.) biomass in diets for weanling pigs and broiler chickens”. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 40 (2014): 9783-9791.
43. Y T Andriola., et al. “Boar sperm quality after supplementation of diets with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids extracted from microalgae”. Andrologia 1 (2018): 12825.
44. E Navarro-López., et al. “Biostimulant Potential of Scenedesmus obliquus Grown in Brewery Wastewater”. Molecules 3 (2020): 1-16.
45. P Deepika and D MubarakAli. “Production and assessment of microalgal liquid fertilizer for the enhanced growth of four crop plants”. Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology 28 (2020): 101701.
46. M Grzesik., et al. “Effectiveness of cyanobacteria and green algae in enhancing the photosynthetic performance and growth of willow (Salix viminalis L.) plants under limited synthetic fertilizers application”. Photosynthetica 3 (2017): 510-521.
47. K Agwa., et al. “Field Evidence of Chlorella vulgaris Potentials as a Biofertilizer for Hibiscus esculentus”. International Journal of Agricultural Research 4 (2017): 181-189.
48. E A N Marks., et al. “Application of a microalgal slurry to soil stimulates heterotrophic activity and promotes bacterial growth”. Science of the Total Environment 605-606 (2017): 610-617.
49. WG Morais Junior., et al. “Microalgae for biotechnological applications: Cultivation, harvesting and biomass processing”. Aquaculture 528 (2020): 735562.
50. E Navarro-López., et al. “Biostimulant potential of Scenedesmus obliquus grown in brewery wastewater”. Molecules3 (2020): 1-16.
51. M R Tredici., et al. “Techno-economic analysis of microalgal biomass production in a 1-ha Green Wall Panel (GWP®) plant”. Algal Research 19 (2016): 253-263.
52. S Sivakaminathan., et al. “Light guide systems enhance microalgae production efficiency in outdoor high rate ponds”. Algal Research 47 (2020): 101846.

Citation

Citation: Catarina Viegas and Margarida Gonçalves. “Integrated Treatment of Pig Production Wastewaters Using Pre-treatment with Biomass Ash and Bioremediation by Microalgae". Acta Scientific Agriculture 5.7 (2021): 44-57.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Catarina Viegas and Margarida Gonçalves. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.