Phycobiliprotein recovery coupled to the tertiary treatment of wastewater in semi-continuous photobioreactors: tracking contaminants of emerging concern

This study evaluated a tertiary wastewater treatment technology using cyanobacteria to recover value-added phycobiliproteins. The presence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in wastewater, cyanobacterial biomass and pigments recovered were also analyzed. For this, a wastewater-borne cyanobacterium (Synechocystis sp. R2020) was used to treat secondary effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant, with and without nutrients supplementation. Then, the stability of phycobiliprotein production was assessed by operating the photobioreactor in semicontinuous mode. Results showed similar biomass productivity with and without nutrients supplementation (153.5 and 146.7 mg L- 1 d- 1 , respectively). Upon semi-continuous operation, the phycobiliprotein content was stable and reached up to 74.7 mg gDW- 1 . The phycocyanin purity ratio ranged from 0.5 to 0.8, corresponding to food grade (>0.7). Out of 22 CECs detected in secondary effluent, only 3 were present in the phycobiliprotein extracts. In order to identify applications, prospective research should focus on CECs removal during pigment purification.

This research was funded by the R + D + I projects AL4BIO (RTI2018-099495-B-C21) and Cyan2Bio (PID2021-126564OB-C32), funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and “ERDF A way of making Europe’’. Marta Bellver acknowledges her grant PRE2019-091552 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ESF Investing in your future”. Rubén Díez-Montero acknowledges his grant IJC2019-042069-I funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033. Mònica Escolà is grateful to the Beatriu de Pinós 2018 grant-programme (MSCA grant agreement number 801370).

Peer Reviewed

Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::6 - Aigua Neta i Sanejament::6.3 - Per a 2030, millorar la qualitat de l’aigua mitjançant la reducció de la contaminació, l’eliminació dels abocaments i la reducció al mínim de la descàrrega de materials i productes químics perillosos, la reducció a la meitat del percentatge d’aigües residuals sense tractar, i un augment substancial a escala mundial del reciclat i de la reutilització en condicions de seguretat

Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::6 - Aigua Neta i Sanejament

Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::12 - Producció i Consum Responsables

Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::12 - Producció i Consum Responsables::12.2 - Per a 2030, assolir la gestió sostenible i l’ús eficient dels recursos naturals

Postprint (published version)