Nejayote and Food Waste Leachate as a Medium for IScenedesmus acutus/I and IHaematococcus pluvialis/I Production: A Mixture Experimental Design

• Published in: Water (Basel) 2024-05, Vol.16 (9)
• Main Authors: Garza-Valverde, Elizabeth, García-Gómez, Celestino, Nápoles-Armenta, Juan, Samaniego-Moreno, Luis, Martínez-Orozco, Edgardo, De La Mora-Orozco, Celia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonia; Purification; Sewage; Wastewater
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w16091314

The wastewaters of nejayote and food waste leachate are polluting effluents with a high load of organic matter that cause great problems when discharged to water receptors. In this work, we investigated the treatment of nejayote wastewaters and food waste leachate for the production of microalgae Scenedesmus acutus and Haematococcus pluvialis. For Scenedesmus acutus, treatment with 10% food waste leachate and 90% growth medium resulted in a concentration of 5.34 g/L in 20 days (μmax = 0.16/day). Meanwhile, 10% nejayote and 90% medium growth produced 4.45 g/L at 20 days (μmax = 0.13/d). A significant reduction of up to 82.6% ammonium, 84.1% orthophosphate, and 87.25% COD was also observed between the different treatments. For Haematococcus pluvialis, the treatment of 90% food waste leachate and 10% growth medium produced a concentration of 4.73 g/L at 6 days (μmax = 0.71/day), while the mixture of 25% najayote, 25% food waste leachate, and 50% growth medium produced a concentration of 5.5 g/L at 20 days (μmax = 0.25/dat). A reduction of up to 97.8% ammonia, 97.4% orthophosphate, and 73.19% COD was also recorded. These findings demonstrated the potential to cultivate microalgae and extract biomolecules for commercial purposes.