Meet the environmental regulations for safe
and sustainable disposal of desalination brine.
Sequestration of carbon dioxide in atmosphere.
Aquaculture
poultry
Food
supplement
Successful research stories for biological utilization
of brine
The aim of this work
• Evaluation of laboratory cultivation of Spirulina
– In desalination brine medium
– Supplied with flue gas
– Supplemented with nutrients
Photosynthetic cyanobacteria Spirulina
Spiral Spirulina cells
Charactristics of Spirulina
•
•
•
•
Source of Spirulina: Shrimp research center, Bushehr, Iran
Tolerant to salinity
Protein enrich
Tolerant to high temperature
Valuable components
Experimental setup
devices
value
unit
notes
Photobioreactor
Glass vessel
4
L
Cylindrical
Lighting
Fluorescent lamp
40
µE /m2s
Both sides
Aeration
Air pump, mass flow rate
0.5
L /min
Temperature
Automatic control
28
ºC
15
days
Cultivation period
LabView software
Plan of experiments
1
2
(control)
3
4
5
6
7
8
%v/v
%v/v
%v/v
%v/v
%v/v
%v/v
%v/v
%v/v
Zarrouk
100
0
0
0
0
75
50
25
Brine
0
100
75
50
25
25
50
75
Distilled water
0
0
25
50
75
0
0
0
Run No.
Analysis
Parameter
Device
unit
EC
EC -470L, ISTEK
TDS
EC -470L, ISTEK
Salinity
EC -470L, ISTEK
pH
pH meter
1-14
Biomass
production
Centrifuge, supernatant removal, 5000
cell washing, OD measurement at
560 nm with spectrophotometer
r/min
Statistical validation of results
• Experiments performed in triplicate (Mean ± SD)
• ANOVA for growth, confidence level of 95%
• ANOVA for nutrient removal, confidence level of 95%
Composition of influent, effluent and
produced water
Brine
pH
EC
Cl
Ca
Mg
CaCO3
SO4
Na
K
F
CO3
HCO3
NO2
NO3
Al
B
Fe
Mn
Si
µS cm-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
mg L-1
Produced water
Raw water % of reduction
7.02
6.13
7.02
12.68
87062
838
59777
99.04
27047.09
276.9
18963.7
98.98
3700
1
2400
99.97
420
5.4
270
98.71
11000
25
7125
99.77
5074
4.19
2953
99.92
14442.6
177.6
10172.9
98.77
884.71
6.77
505.55
99.23
0.65
3.18
1.02
0
0
0
183
12.2
122
93.33
0.01
0.0006
0.013
94.00
0.66
0.04
0.48
93.94
0.001
0.001
0.001
3.49
0.67
2.17
80.80
0.001
0
0
0.195
0.001
0.144
99.49
8.76
0.11
6.03
98.74
Bandar Lengeh
Desalination plant
The salinity of desalination discharge of
Bandar Lengeht
72.4
Salinity, ppt
72.2
72
71.8
71.6
71.4
0 1 2 3 4 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 1011121314141516171819192021222323242526272828293031
Time, d
Results of EC reduction
80000
EC, µS cm-1
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
0
5
10
Time, d
15
Cell growth
• The high concentrations of Spirulina were obtained with
concentrated brine supplemented with main components of
Zarrouk culture medium with the ratio of 50:50. During the
study period, the highest biomass value was recorded in the 13th
days of cultivation. The cell mass has been reached to 0.6-g L-1in
culture medium supplemented with Zarrouk.
• Very high concentrations of Spirulina were observed at cultures
with electrical conductivities above approximately 45 mS.cm-1.
• Such high concentrations may result from reduced contamination,
elevated nutrient levels or a combination of both.
▌ The findings showed that cyanobacteria Spirulina was able to grow
well in desalination brine with the variety of salinity.
▌ The difference of biomass production was significant in various
cultures (p ≤ 0.05).
▌ The difference of salinity removal was significant (p ≤ 0.05) among
treatments.
Recommendations
• More studies are required to find tolerant species from
local sites.
• Supplements the influent feeds may improve biomass
production.
• Middle east countries have more potential and needs to
develop microalgae related technologies.
• More studies are required for development of continuous
treatment of brine with photosynthetic microorganisms
Challenges
Motivations and challenges
• Meet the environmental regulations for safe desalination brine disposal.
• Capturing the carbon dioxide and reduction of flue gas emission.
• Production of cyanobacteria Spirulina biomass.
Safe
dischargeable
treated brine
Brine
Produced
microalga
biomass
Successful research stories of biological utilization of
brine
New Zealand
In November 2009, five acres at the 230-acre
Christchurch wastewater treatment plant in
Bromely, New Zealand, were cordoned off into
high-rate algal ponds that are used to make
bio-crude oil. The demonstration project
combines NIWA’s scientific expertise on
advanced wastewater treatment and algal
production pond technology with Solray’s biocrude oil conversion technology. Adding CO2
into the ponds enhances wastewater treatment
and doubles algal production. The algae are
then collected and pumped into a reactor,
where heat and pressure turn the biomass into
bio-crude oil—a form easy to convert to a
range of conventional fuels
United State
Australia
Florida, Cal Poly is using nine ponds at San
Luis Obispo’s wastewater treatment plant to
test the viability of using algae to treat
sewage. Algae feed on pollutants in the
wastewater. It consists of nine algae-rich
ponds that circulate wastewater. The project
is called Reclamation of Nutrients, Energy
and Water, or RNEW.
2006
ISARDI (the SA R&D Institute) has just started
a 3 year, $1m project in collaboration with
ARF
(Aust Renewable Fuels) with an emphasis on
photobioreactor work to identify suitable
algae to
grow in saline water, such as in the Riverland
salt interception area.
Materials and methods
Air in
20 mL
Preculture
Previous related publications
• Lababpour A. (2013) Simultaneous microalga biomass production and wastewater treatment in various pond geometries,
ISHS.
• Lababpour A. (2013) Bioremediation of municipal wastewater using macroalga genus Gracilaria, ISHS.
• Lababpour A. (2013) Cultivation of microalga Chlorella vulgaris in municipal wastewater for biomass production, National
Bioremediation Symposium.
• Lababpour A. (2014) Model-based dynamic optimization of flue gas supply to cultures of microalga Chlorella vulgaris,
NAOIII, SQU, Oman.