Evaluation of Chlorella sorokiniana isolated from local municipal wastewater for dual application in nutrient removal and biodiesel production

The isolated microalga Chlorella sorokiniana BENHA721_ABO4 was grown in Bold’s basal medium (BBM) as a control, municipal wastewater (WW), and wastewater enriched with BBM elements (WW+). Cultivation in WW+ showed the highest cell number which represented 25.3 and 47.3% over that grown in WW and BBM, respectively. However, rapid growth in WW+ was accompanied by significant reduction in lipid content. Due to lipid accumulation in WW, it showed the maximum significant lipid productivity of 16.2 mg L−1 day−1. Microalgae cultivation in WW for 10 days showed 74.2, 83.3, and 78.0% removal efficiency for NO3–N, NH3–N and TP, respectively. In addition, growth in WW significantly reduced polyunsaturated fatty acids by 36.0% with respect to BBM in favor of monounsaturated fatty acids. The present results confirmed that C. sorokiniana isolate BENHA721_ABO4 grown in secondary effluent municipal wastewater offers real potential for future application in wastewater treatment and biodiesel production.