Growing Picochlorum oklahomensis in Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater Supplemented with Animal Wastewater
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Growing Picochlorum oklahomensis in Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater Supplemented with Animal Wastewater Giovanni Antonio Lutzu & Maria Antonietta Marin & Alessandro Concas & Nurhan Turgut Dunford
Received: 11 May 2020 / Accepted: 13 August 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Hydraulic fracturing is used to enhance oil and gas extraction from tight shale formations and generates millions of gallons of wastewater which needs to be cleaned up prior to disposal or reuse. The current technologies used for the management of this wastewater present technical, economic, and environmental challenges. Hence, the main objective of this study was to examine the potential of algal remediation of hydraulic fracturing wastewater (PW) as an alternative method. Considering that PW contains very low concentration of the nutrients needed for algae growth PW supplemented with animal wastewater (AW-PW) was also examined. Biomass production capacity, average biomass productivity, and specific growth rate of the microalgae strain used in the study, Picochlorum oklahomensis, were 1.87 g L−1, 268 mg L−1 day−1, and 0.35 day−1, respectively, when grown in PW. Complete nitrate, ammonia, and phosphate removal could be achieved by growing algae in PW. Supplementation of PW with animal G. A. Lutzu : M. A. Marin : N. T. Dunford Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center, Oklahoma State University, FAPC Room 13, Stillwater, OK 74078-6055, USA N. T. Dunford (*) Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-6055, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. Concas Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia (CRS4), Loc. Piscina Manna, Building 1, 09050 Pula, CA, Italy
wastewater enhanced biomass production (1.87– 2.40 g L−1) and lipid content (15–25% wt) in the produced algal biomass. A mathematical model with a correlation coefficient of greater than 0.94 was developed to describe the growth kinetics of algae grown in AW-PW. Keywords Picochlorum oklahomensis . Produced water . Animal wastewater . Algal biomass production . Contaminant removal . Mathematical model
1 Introduction Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a process during which water containing various chemicals is injected at a high pressure into tight geologic formations holding oil and/or gas. The latter process induces fractures through which oil or natural gas can easily flow to the surface enhancing oil and gas recovery. The hydraulic fracturing process utilizes large volumes of freshwater depleting scarce resources, generating wastewater (WW), and creating environmental pollution. The amount of water used for each well varies between 10,000 and 236,620 m3 per well, depending on the well borehole configuration and target oil or gas reservoir characteristics (Gallegos et al. 2015). The liquid waste produced during the fracking operations is of great concern due to its potential adverse impact on ground and surface water and soil. There are two main streams generated duri
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