The objective is to study the possibility of valorizing the algal biomass that is grown in the reactors of the pilot plant using as input the sewage effluents that reach the AySA Southwest Treatment Plant, generating economic and environmental benefits. Additionally, it seeks to corroborate a reduction in the economic and energy cost in the treatment of wastewater with microalgae.
“This project focuses on the circular economy. We are revaluing this product, because we manage to lower the nutrient load of the effluents that enter from the plant from the feeding of these microorganisms (microalgae) so that they can later be used as biofertilizers. This is both an innovation and a contribution to caring for the environment and the circular economy,” said biologist Carolina González, member of the AySA Research Center (CIAySA).
For his part, Agustín Rearte, head and researcher of the Chair of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry of the Faculty of Agronomy, CONICET researcher and director of the project said: “Treating water with microalgae is basically using photosynthetic organisms to remove nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus, and thus also lower the organic load of the wastewater, treat the water and in that process produce biomass that can be used as biofertilizer."
The project began in 2021 and the construction of the pilot-scale plant ended in September 2022 and as of this date it is already in operation on the property of the AySA Southwest Treatment Plant, where the treatment of sewage liquids from the La Matanza match.
“We have been investigating water treatment with microalgae for around 10 years and doing many studies on a laboratory scale. The idea was to go out and do field experiences with industrial reactors and have a more real scenario,” says Rearte.
This plant is operated jointly by AySA and the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Buenos Aires and the program is financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology. “It is a pilot that in the future we will scale to apply in some territorial area where it can be useful from a social point of view with the presence of AySA and its link with academic fields,” González added.