Exploring the potential of Chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent (POME): A sustainable and green technology approach
The presence of excessive concentrations of essential elements in wastewater, particularly palm oil mill effluent (POME), contributes to environmental nuisances such as eutrophication, which depletes oxygen levels in water bodies and disrupts aquatic ecosystems due to high nutrient and organic loads...
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Elsevier
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666016425001811 |
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| author | Hemen Emmanuel Jijingi Sara Kazemi Yazdi Yousif Abdalla Abakr Azalea Dyah Maysarah Satya |
| author_facet | Hemen Emmanuel Jijingi Sara Kazemi Yazdi Yousif Abdalla Abakr Azalea Dyah Maysarah Satya |
| author_sort | Hemen Emmanuel Jijingi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The presence of excessive concentrations of essential elements in wastewater, particularly palm oil mill effluent (POME), contributes to environmental nuisances such as eutrophication, which depletes oxygen levels in water bodies and disrupts aquatic ecosystems due to high nutrient and organic loads. Herein, this study evaluates Chlorella vulgaris as a sustainable treatment route for nutrient removal from POME under three distinct cultivation conditions: (1) Control (CO)—900 mL synthetic growth medium and 100 mL Chlorella vulgaris culture, serving as a reference for microalgae growth under standard conditions without POME; (2) POME + Synthetic Growth Medium + Chlorella vulgaris Culture (PSC)—500 mL filtered POME, 400 mL synthetic growth medium, and 100 mL Chlorella vulgaris culture (POME-to-medium ratio of 2:1), designed to evaluate POME's potential to substitute conventional growth media; and (3) POME + Chlorella vulgaris Culture (PC)-900 mL filtered POME and 100 mL Chlorella vulgaris culture (POME-to-culture ratio of 1:1), evaluating the feasibility of using POME as the sole nutrient source for microalgae growth. Experimental results indicated that the PSC treatment recorded the highest nutrient removal efficiencies, with 94.64 % for total nitrogen (TN), 91.36 % for total phosphorus (TP), 92.31 % for nitrate (NO3−-N), and 90.91 % for ammonia-nitrogen (NH4+-N). The PC treatment exhibited slightly lower efficiencies, whereas the Control treatment showed the least removal effectiveness. Regression modeling was performed using MATLAB to predict optical density (OD) trends over cultivation time. Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) emerged as the best-performing model, with an R2 value of 0.984 and an RMSE of 0.608, demonstrating a strong correlation between OD and biomass accumulation. Linear Regression also demonstrated high accuracy (R2 = 0.978, RMSE = 0.707), confirming that Chlorella vulgaris growth can be effectively modeled over time. These statistical results reinforce the significant role of nutrient-enriched media in enhancing nutrient remediation and biomass accumulation. Hence, this study demonstrates Chlorella vulgaris as a promising candidate for POME bioremediation, paving the way for sustainable wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery technologies. The strong correlation between nutrient removal, biomass accumulation, and optical density growth highlights the potential of microalgal-based wastewater treatment systems in industrial applications. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e5183e01cebb4ca2a82191c2ff547156 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2666-0164 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
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| series | Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-e5183e01cebb4ca2a82191c2ff5471562025-08-20T03:05:45ZengElsevierCase Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering2666-01642025-12-011210127410.1016/j.cscee.2025.101274Exploring the potential of Chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent (POME): A sustainable and green technology approachHemen Emmanuel Jijingi0Sara Kazemi Yazdi1Yousif Abdalla Abakr2Azalea Dyah Maysarah Satya3Corresponding author.; Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Semenyih, 43500, Selangor, MalaysiaDepartment of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Semenyih, 43500, Selangor, MalaysiaDepartment of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Semenyih, 43500, Selangor, MalaysiaDepartment of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Semenyih, 43500, Selangor, MalaysiaThe presence of excessive concentrations of essential elements in wastewater, particularly palm oil mill effluent (POME), contributes to environmental nuisances such as eutrophication, which depletes oxygen levels in water bodies and disrupts aquatic ecosystems due to high nutrient and organic loads. Herein, this study evaluates Chlorella vulgaris as a sustainable treatment route for nutrient removal from POME under three distinct cultivation conditions: (1) Control (CO)—900 mL synthetic growth medium and 100 mL Chlorella vulgaris culture, serving as a reference for microalgae growth under standard conditions without POME; (2) POME + Synthetic Growth Medium + Chlorella vulgaris Culture (PSC)—500 mL filtered POME, 400 mL synthetic growth medium, and 100 mL Chlorella vulgaris culture (POME-to-medium ratio of 2:1), designed to evaluate POME's potential to substitute conventional growth media; and (3) POME + Chlorella vulgaris Culture (PC)-900 mL filtered POME and 100 mL Chlorella vulgaris culture (POME-to-culture ratio of 1:1), evaluating the feasibility of using POME as the sole nutrient source for microalgae growth. Experimental results indicated that the PSC treatment recorded the highest nutrient removal efficiencies, with 94.64 % for total nitrogen (TN), 91.36 % for total phosphorus (TP), 92.31 % for nitrate (NO3−-N), and 90.91 % for ammonia-nitrogen (NH4+-N). The PC treatment exhibited slightly lower efficiencies, whereas the Control treatment showed the least removal effectiveness. Regression modeling was performed using MATLAB to predict optical density (OD) trends over cultivation time. Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) emerged as the best-performing model, with an R2 value of 0.984 and an RMSE of 0.608, demonstrating a strong correlation between OD and biomass accumulation. Linear Regression also demonstrated high accuracy (R2 = 0.978, RMSE = 0.707), confirming that Chlorella vulgaris growth can be effectively modeled over time. These statistical results reinforce the significant role of nutrient-enriched media in enhancing nutrient remediation and biomass accumulation. Hence, this study demonstrates Chlorella vulgaris as a promising candidate for POME bioremediation, paving the way for sustainable wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery technologies. The strong correlation between nutrient removal, biomass accumulation, and optical density growth highlights the potential of microalgal-based wastewater treatment systems in industrial applications.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666016425001811BiomassChlorella vulgarisNutrients removalPalm oil mill effluentWastewater treatmentOptical density |
| spellingShingle | Hemen Emmanuel Jijingi Sara Kazemi Yazdi Yousif Abdalla Abakr Azalea Dyah Maysarah Satya Exploring the potential of Chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent (POME): A sustainable and green technology approach Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering Biomass Chlorella vulgaris Nutrients removal Palm oil mill effluent Wastewater treatment Optical density |
| title | Exploring the potential of Chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent (POME): A sustainable and green technology approach |
| title_full | Exploring the potential of Chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent (POME): A sustainable and green technology approach |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the potential of Chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent (POME): A sustainable and green technology approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the potential of Chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent (POME): A sustainable and green technology approach |
| title_short | Exploring the potential of Chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent (POME): A sustainable and green technology approach |
| title_sort | exploring the potential of chlorella vulgaris for nutrient removal and biomass accumulation in palm oil mill effluent pome a sustainable and green technology approach |
| topic | Biomass Chlorella vulgaris Nutrients removal Palm oil mill effluent Wastewater treatment Optical density |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666016425001811 |
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