Assessing the potential of purple phototrophic bacteria for the simultaneous treatment of piggery wastewater and upgrading of biogas

Abstract

The potential of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) for the simultaneous treatment of piggery wastewater (PWW) and biogas upgrading was evaluated batchwise in gas-tight photobioreactors. PWW dilution was identified as a key parameter determining the efficiency of wastewater treatment and biomethane quality in PPB photobioreactors. Four times diluted PWW supported the most efficient total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen removals (78% and 13%, respectively), with CH4 concentrations of 90.8%. The influence of phosphorous concentration (supplementation of 50 mg L−1 of P-PO43−) on PPB-based PWW treatment coupled to biogas upgrading was investigated. TOC removals of ≈60% and CH4 concentrations of ≈90.0% were obtained regardless of phosphorus supplementation. Finally, the use of PPB and algal-bacterial consortia supported CH4 concentrations in the upgraded biogas of 93.3% and 73.6%, respectively, which confirmed the potential PPB for biogas upgrading coupled to PWW treatment.