Biomass of algae growth on natural water medium.

Algae are the dominant primary producers in aquatic ecosystems. Since algae are highly varied group organisms, which have important functions in ecosystem, and their biomass is an essential biological resource. Currently, algae have been applied increasingly to diverse range of biomass applications. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the ecological algae features of microalgal production by natural medium, ecological function by lab scale of the symbiotic reactor which is imitated nature ecosystem, and atmospheric CO2 absorption that was related the algal growth of biomass to understand algae in natural water body better. Consequently, this study took advantages of using the unsupplemented freshwater natural medium to produce microalgae. Algal biomass by direct measurement of total suspended solids (TSS) and volatile suspended solids (VSS) resulted as 0.14g/L and 0.08g/L respectively. The biomass measurements of TSS and VSS are the sensible biomass index for algae production. The laboratory results obtained in the present study proved the production of algae by the natural water medium is potentially feasible.

Adsorption of mercury from water by modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes: adsorption behaviour and interference resistance by coexisting anions.

This investigation reports the use of modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with various functional groups for adsorbing inorganic divalent mercury (Hg(II)) from water samples. To elucidate the behaviours and mechanisms of Hg(II) adsorption by modified MWCNTs, their adsorption capacity was studied by considering adsorption isotherms and kinetics. Particular attention was paid to interference of coexisting inorganic ions with Hg(II) adsorption. The results reveal that functionalization with oxygen-containing groups improved the Hg(II) adsorption capacity of the MWCNTs. Kinetic analysis demonstrated that the adsorption of Hg(II) by MWCNTs was closely described by the pseudo-second-order and Elovich models, suggesting that the adsorption of Hg(II) by MWCNTs was significantly affected by chemical adsorption. The kinetic results were also analysed using the intraparticle diffusion model, which revealed that intraparticle diffusion was not the only rate-controlling mechanism. The adsorption of Hg(II) on MWCNTs fell drastically as the ionic strength increased from 0 to 1.0mol/L chloride ions, and declined significantly as the pH increased from 2.2 to 10.5. The elemental maps obtained by energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS) revealed the formation of surface complexes of chloride ions with functional groups on MWCNTs, which reduced the number of available sites for the adsorption of Hg(II) and strengthened the repulsive forces between Hg(II) and MWCNTs. The EDS results suggest that chloride ions are important in controlling Hg(II) speciation and adsorption on the surfaces of MWCNTs.

An exploration of the relationships between microalgae biomass growth and related environmental variables.

Algal community plays critical roles as the primary producer and as a major biotic component in the nutrient/energy cycle in aquatic ecosystems. The potential of fresh water algal biomass to mitigate global problems of food and energy and its significance as a carbon sink have been recognized. In this study, with a view to decreasing the cost of producing algal biomass for various purposes, the natural medium of unsupplemented freshwater was applied to mimic the real world to produce algal biomass. The relevant physicochemical variables in the improvised algal growth environment were analyzed and monitored, to investigate the algal growth mechanism. The simple regression analysis showed the applicability of the unsupplemented natural medium with sufficient natural nutrition for algal biomass production. The multiple linear analyses explained the complexity of the mimicked freshwater mixed-algal community in the laboratory. The laboratory results obtained in the present study also provide better insights that improve our understanding of the natural algal growth characteristics.

Growth condition study of algae function in ecosystem for CO2 bio-fixation.

Algae niche play a crucial role on carbon cycle and have great potential for CO(2) sequestration. This study was to investigate the CO(2) bio-fixation by the high rate pond (HRP) to mimic the algae function of nature. All the reactors can keep CO(2) consumption efficiencies over 100%. The statistical analyses proved HRPs were close to the natural system from all the growth conditions. The HRP could show the "natural optimization as nature" to perform as well as the artificial reactor of continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR). In the nutrition study, the carbon mass balance indicated CO(2) was the main carbon source. Accordingly, the HRPs can keep a neutral pH range to provide dissolved oxygen (DO), to promote total nitrogen (TN)/total phosphorous (TP) removal efficiencies and to demonstrate self-purification process. Furthermore, the observations of different nitrogen species in the reactors demonstrated that the major nitrogen source was decided by pH. This finding logically explained the complex nitrogen uptake by algae in nature. Consequently, this study took advantage of HRP to explore the processes of efficient CO(2) uptake with the corresponding growth condition in the ecosystem. Those results contributed the further understanding of the role of CO(2) bio-fixation in nature and demonstrated HRP could be a potential ecological engineering alternative.