Succession dynamics of microbial communities responding to the exogenous microalgae ZM-5 and analysis of the environmental sustainability of a constructed wetland system.

ABSTRACT

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are economical and effective swine tailwater treatment systems. However, nitrogen removal in CWs is limited by the lack of carbon source for denitrification. In this study, we studied the feasibility of dosing the microalgae ZM-5 to improve the nitrogen removal ability in CWs. Compared to the control CW, a 20 % higher removal capacity of COD and TN was observed for the coupled system (EG). The microalgae ZM-5 could interact with denitrifying bacteria to compensate for the deficiency of denitrifying stage in CWs. HT-qPCR chip analysis also provided evidence that denitrification genes significantly increased (p < 0.05). According to the life cycle assessment (LCA), ultrasonic extraction had the best environmental sustainability among four lipid extraction processes. As an improvement strategy, clean energy could be utilized to optimize the electricity source to reduce environmental load (45 %-60 %). These findings offer new insights into the feasibility of EG for environmentally sustainable wastewater treatment.