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The environmental feasibility of low-cost algae-based sewage treatment as a climate change adaption measure in rural areas of SADC countries

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dc.contributor.author Oberholster, Paul J
dc.contributor.author Cheng, Po-Hsun
dc.contributor.author Genthe, Bettina
dc.contributor.author Steyn, Maronel
dc.date.accessioned 2018-10-10T11:42:58Z
dc.date.available 2018-10-10T11:42:58Z
dc.date.issued 2018-07
dc.identifier.citation Oberholster, P.J., Cheng, PH. and Genthe, B. 2018. The environmental feasibility of low-cost algae-based sewage treatment as a climate change adaption measure in rural areas of SADC countries. Journal of Applied Phycology, pp 1-9 en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0921-8971
dc.identifier.issn 1573-5176
dc.identifier.uri https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10811-018-1554-7
dc.identifier.uri https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1554-7
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10459
dc.description Copyright: 2018. Springer Netherlands. Due to copyright restrictions, the attached PDF file only contains the abstract of the full text item. For access to the full text item, please consult the publisher's website. The definitive version of the work is published in Journal of Applied Phycology, pp 1-9 en_US
dc.description.abstract Employing specific algae treatment to treat municipal domestic wastewater effluent presents an alternative practice to improving water quality effluent of existing rural pond systems in Southern Africa. In the present study, domestic wastewater was treated by using existing infrastructure and inoculated specific selected algae strains in a pond system treatment plant. The objective was to determine through a field pilot study if algae nutrient treatment efficiencies in current traditional water-stabilisation ponds can be optimised by manipulating the existing natural consortium of algae through mass inoculation of specific algae strains of Chlorella spp. The reduction of total phosphorus in the unfiltered water (contain algae) after specific algae treatment was 74.7 and 76.4% for water-stabilisation ponds 5 and 6, while total nitrogen removal was 43.1 and 35.1%, respectively. Chlorella protothecoides was the dominant algal species in ponds 4, 5 and 6 after specific algae treatment. The maximum algae abundance (4.6 × 106 cells mL-1 in pond 4 and 6.1 × 106 cells mL-1 in pond 5) were observed in August 2016, while the maximum chlorophyll-a concentration of 783 µg L-1 was measured in pond 5 after 2 months of specific algae inoculation. Although the present study showed that inoculation of specific algal strains can potentially enhance the treatment efficiencies of existing rural domestic sewage pond systems, it was also evident from the algae-treated effluent analysis that the algae biomass in the upper surface water layer must be harvested for maximum treatment results. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Springer en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries Workflow;21089
dc.subject Phycoremediation en_US
dc.subject Phosphorus harvesting en_US
dc.subject Rural en_US
dc.subject Temperature en_US
dc.subject Water-stabilisation ponds en_US
dc.title The environmental feasibility of low-cost algae-based sewage treatment as a climate change adaption measure in rural areas of SADC countries en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.identifier.apacitation Oberholster, P. J., Cheng, P., Genthe, B., & Steyn, M. (2018). The environmental feasibility of low-cost algae-based sewage treatment as a climate change adaption measure in rural areas of SADC countries. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10459 en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitation Oberholster, Paul J, Po-Hsun Cheng, Bettina Genthe, and Maronel Steyn "The environmental feasibility of low-cost algae-based sewage treatment as a climate change adaption measure in rural areas of SADC countries." (2018) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10459 en_ZA
dc.identifier.vancouvercitation Oberholster PJ, Cheng P, Genthe B, Steyn M. The environmental feasibility of low-cost algae-based sewage treatment as a climate change adaption measure in rural areas of SADC countries. 2018; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10459. en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Article AU - Oberholster, Paul J AU - Cheng, Po-Hsun AU - Genthe, Bettina AU - Steyn, Maronel AB - Employing specific algae treatment to treat municipal domestic wastewater effluent presents an alternative practice to improving water quality effluent of existing rural pond systems in Southern Africa. In the present study, domestic wastewater was treated by using existing infrastructure and inoculated specific selected algae strains in a pond system treatment plant. The objective was to determine through a field pilot study if algae nutrient treatment efficiencies in current traditional water-stabilisation ponds can be optimised by manipulating the existing natural consortium of algae through mass inoculation of specific algae strains of Chlorella spp. The reduction of total phosphorus in the unfiltered water (contain algae) after specific algae treatment was 74.7 and 76.4% for water-stabilisation ponds 5 and 6, while total nitrogen removal was 43.1 and 35.1%, respectively. Chlorella protothecoides was the dominant algal species in ponds 4, 5 and 6 after specific algae treatment. The maximum algae abundance (4.6 × 106 cells mL-1 in pond 4 and 6.1 × 106 cells mL-1 in pond 5) were observed in August 2016, while the maximum chlorophyll-a concentration of 783 µg L-1 was measured in pond 5 after 2 months of specific algae inoculation. Although the present study showed that inoculation of specific algal strains can potentially enhance the treatment efficiencies of existing rural domestic sewage pond systems, it was also evident from the algae-treated effluent analysis that the algae biomass in the upper surface water layer must be harvested for maximum treatment results. DA - 2018-07 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Phycoremediation KW - Phosphorus harvesting KW - Rural KW - Temperature KW - Water-stabilisation ponds LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2018 SM - 0921-8971 SM - 1573-5176 T1 - The environmental feasibility of low-cost algae-based sewage treatment as a climate change adaption measure in rural areas of SADC countries TI - The environmental feasibility of low-cost algae-based sewage treatment as a climate change adaption measure in rural areas of SADC countries UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10459 ER - en_ZA


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