Wastewater treatment plants play a crucial role in water security and sanitation, ensuring ecosystems balance and avoiding significant negative effects on humans and environment. However, they determine also negative pressures, including greenhouse gas and odourous emissions, which should be minimized to mitigate climate changes besides avoiding complaints. The research has been focused on the validation… Continue reading Carbon neutrality in wastewater treatment plants: An integrated biotechnological-based solution for nutrients recovery, odour abatement and CO2 conversion in alternative energy drivers
This paper presents and discusses the life cycle assessment (LCA) of CO2 capture and of microalgae biomass production in an advanced membrane photobioreactor (mPBR) system for climate change mitigation and the generation of renewable energy carriers. The study aims to evaluate environment-relevant aspects and propose alternative solutions for optimization of the environmental sustainability of the biologically… Continue reading Advanced membrane photobioreactors in algal CO2 biofixation and valuable biomass production: Integrative life cycle assessment and sustainability analysis
Cyanobacteria have been identified as promising organisms to reuse nutrients from waste effluents and produce valuable compounds such as lipids, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), and pigments. However, almost all studies on cyanobacterial biorefineries have been performed under lab scale and short cultivation periods. The present study evaluates the cultivation of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. in a pilot… Continue reading Production of phycobiliproteins, bioplastics and lipids by the cyanobacteria Synechocystis sp. treating secondary effluent in a biorefinery approach
Cyanobacteria are interesting microorganisms to produce polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biodegradable plastic similar to polypropylene. In this study, a Life Cycle Assessment and an economic analysis were carried out to assess the sustainability of the process. Different scenarios were analysed including different nutrient sources (i.e. wastewater and standard growth medium BG-11) and different PHB contents (from 15%dcw to 35%dcw and 50%dcw). Regarding the environmental impacts,… Continue reading Life cycle assessment and economic analysis of bioplastics production from cyanobacteria
Fossil fuels represent the primary energy sources, amounting to an 85% share of the total energy used in the world. The burning of fossil fuels caused the increase of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in atmosphere resulting in global warming. Development of smart and cost-effective technologies for carbon capture and biomass production are among the suggested… Continue reading Advanced Membrane PhotoBioReactor (mPBR) Versus Traditional BioReactors for the Control of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs): A Comparative Analysis in Terms of Performance and Energy Consumption
The study has investigated the use of an Algae-Sludge Membrane Bioreactor (AS-MBR) for wastewater treatment. Its performance, in terms of pollutant removal and membrane fouling mitigation, was compared to that of a previously reported conventional MBR. Results showed that it has a COD removal efficiency that is only slightly higher than that in the conventional… Continue reading Wastewater Treatment and Membrane Fouling Control Using an Algae-Sludge Membrane Bioreactor (AS-MBR)
The harvesting of microalgae strongly affects their effective application as a source of biomass for fuels and chemicals. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the performance of the recently developed Encapsulated Self-Forming Dynamic Membrane (ESFDM) module integrated into a cylindrical photobioreactor (PBR) for the efficient and simultaneous microalgae biomass cultivation and harvesting.… Continue reading An integrated algal membrane photobioreactor as a green-transition technology for the carbon capture and utilization
The rising of greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG), during the last 200 years, is associated to the well known global warming phenomena. One of the main sources of CO2-equivalent GHGs emissions are the environmental protection plants accounting for 1.57% of the global emissions and thus sustainable and effective technologies for their mitigation are strongly needed. The current… Continue reading Innovative membrane photobioreactor for sustainable CO2 capture and utilization
