CO₂ Uptake and Domestic Wastewater Treatment by Chlorella vulgaris

Various anthropogenic activities worsen climate conditions and cause water scarcity. As result, many studies have been conducted using microalgae to address these problems. Chlorella vulgaris is known to thrive in different type of environmental condition, making it beneficial for utilization. The objectives of this research were to combine the use of domestic wastewater (DWW) while at the same time inject CO₂ in order to analyze C. vulgaris' ability to perform CO₂ uptake and wastewater treatment. Industrial CO₂ gas cylinder was used to supply CO₂ into the airlift photobioreactor (PBR) containing 40% and 60% DWW. C. vulgaris was inoculated into the biosystem and cultivated for 7 days. The results show that C. vulgaris can grow under high CO₂ supply conditions and used DWW as a nutrient source. The efficiency of pollutant absorption, such as ammonia, phosphate, MBAS ranges from 82.28% to 98.91%. However, its productivity is still low, and the organic matter (BOD and COD) treatment in DWW is not yet optimal.