Batista, Ana PaulaAmbrosano, LucasGraça, SofiaSousa, CatarinaMarques, PaulaRibeiro, BelinaBotrel, Elberis P.Neto, Pedro CastroGouveia, Luisa2015-01-282015-01-282015Batista, A.P.; Ambrosano, L.; Graça, S.; Sousa, C.; Marques, P.A.; Ribeiro, B.; Botrel, E.P.; Neto, P.C.; Gouveia, L. - Combining urban wastewater treatment with biohydrogen production: An integrated microalgae-based approach. In: Bioresource Technology, 2015, Vol. 184, p.230-2350960-8524http://hdl.handle.net/10400.9/2590The aim of the present work was the simultaneous treatment of urban wastewater using microalgae and the energetic valorization of the obtained biomass. Chlorella vulgaris (Cv), Scenedesmus obliquus (Sc) and a naturally occurring algal Consortium C (ConsC) were grown in an urban wastewater. The nutrient removals were quite high and the treated water fits the legislation (PT Dec-Lei 236/98) in what concerns the parameters analysed (N, P, COD). After nutrient depletion the microalgae remained two more weeks in the photobioreactor (PBR) under nutritional stress conditions, to induce sugar accumulation (22–43%). The stressed biomass was converted into biohydrogen (bioH2), a clean energy carrier, through dark fermentation by a strain of the bacteria Enterobacter aerogenes. The fermentation kinetics were monitored and fitted to a modified Gompertz model. The highest bioH2 production yield was obtained for S. obliquus (56.8 mL H2/gVS) which was very similar when using the same algae grown in synthetic media.engMicroalgaeWastewater treatmentBiohydrogenDark fermentationjournal article