1 research outputs found
Influence of Scale on Biomass Growth and Nutrient Removal in an Algal–Bacterial Leachate Treatment System
Data collected from experiments
conducted at a flask scale are regularly used as input data for life
cycle assessments and techno-economic analyses for predicting the
potential productivities of large-scale commercial facilities. This
study measures and compares nitrogen removal and biomass growth rates
in treatment systems that utilize an algae–bacteria consortium
to remediate landfill leachate at three scales: small (0.25 L), medium
(100 L), and large (1000 L). The medium- and large-scale vessels were
run for 52 consecutive weeks as semibatch reactors under variable
environmental conditions. The small-scale experiments were conducted
in flasks as batch experiments under controlled environmental conditions.
Kolomogov–Smirnov statistical tests, which compare the distributions
of entire data sets, were used to determine if the ammonia removal,
total nitrogen removal, and biomass growth rates at each scale were
statistically different. Results from the Kolmogov–Smirnov
comparison indicate that there is a significant difference between
all rates determined in the large-scale vessels compared to those
in the small-scale vessels. These results suggest that small-scale
experiments may not be appropriate as input data in predictive analyses
of full scale algal processes. The accumulation of nitrite and nitrate
within the reactor, observed midway through the experimental process,
is attributed to high relative abundances of ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing
bacteria, identified via metagenomic analysis