NUTRIENT REMOVAL FROM WASTEWATER BY MICROALGAE CHLORELLA VULGARIS.

In Europe, 2.52 kg nitrogen and 0.51 kg phosphorous / inhabitant / year are discharged in wastewater. Conventional biological and chemical methods for wastewater treatment are costly and not fully efficient in removing nutrients, and the discharge of effluents in rivers and lakes enhances the eutrophication. The use of microalgae species to remove nutrients available in wastewater, as a sustainable and low-cost treatment option, and also the use of different systems for algal cultivation in wastewater, aiming to obtain biomass and bio-products, is a growing field of research. Green microalgae, especially Chlorella species, play an important role in wastewater treatment while producing algal biomass, with numerous studies proving the high potential of Chlorella to consume nutrients from different categories of wastewater: municipal wastewater, wastewater from agriculture, wastewater from zootechnics, industrial wastewater. Cultivated in autotrophic, heterotrophic or mixotrophic conditions, in open or closed systems, microalgae have an important role in reducing greenhouse gases, consuming 1.83 kg CO₂ / kg dry algal biomass. Algal biomass can be capitalized to obtain many value-added products, including biofuels. The aim of this study is to review the advances in the utilization of microalgae Chlorella vulgaris in the treatment of municipal and zootechnical wastewater, emphasizing the removal of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]