wcm.02.2021.66.70

Conventional domestic wastewater treatment in most developing countries is confined to secondary treatments, mainly focusing on solids and organics removal, which results in eutrophication when the effluents are discharged into receiving bodies. Thus, to resolve the issues associated with the conventional treatment system, in the present study, microalgae was introduced in the primary treated effluent collected from a sewage treatment plant to study the efficiency of the system in reducing eutrophication and other challenges of secondary treatment. Phycoremediation is an effective and eco-friendly treatment alternative that reduced the primary-treated effluent’s PO4-P, NH3-N and COD concentration to 97.89%, 98.81%, and 88.24%, respectively at the identical HRT practiced for secondary treatment. One-way ANOVA was also conducted to determine the effectiveness of the system statistically. The experimental and statistical analysis proved that microalgal treatment could resolve the challenges of conventional secondary treatments if adopted for domestic wastewater.