Shiwani Guleria Sharma, Poonam Singla, Nishu Sharma, Gurvinder Singh Kocher, Sandeep Sharma and Sanjay Satpaute
Abstract
Biological treatment methods of wastewater treatment are eco-friendly, cost effective and highly efficient. Indigenous microbes were isolated in the present study having wastewater treatment efficacy. Two microalgae viz. PL1 and PL2 and eight bacterial strains viz. B1(L1), B2(L1), B3(L1), B4(L1), B1(L2) B2(L2), B3(L2), and B4(L2) were isolated from indigenous populations with wastewater treatment efficacy, i.e. L1 mix and L2 mix. Physiological characterization of isolated microalgae and bacteria has been performed. Screening based on potential to reduce various physiochemical and microbiological parameters, i.e. biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity(EC), pH, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and total coliforms revealed that among microalgae PL2 and among bacteria, B4(L2) has maximum potential to treat wastewater. Microalgae-bacterial consortium consisting of microalgae PL2 and bacteria B4(L2) were found to effectively treat untreated domestic wastewater together at lab scale in 15 days and resulted in significant percent reduction in all parameters, i.e. 78.05 % BOD (90 mg/l), 66.67 % COD (180 mg/l), 18.31% EC (2.23 Ds/m), 79.41% TDS (204 mg/l), 56.73% total coliform (3.98 log cfu/100 ml), 60.53% total nitrogen (21 mg/l) and 56.73% total phosphorus (7.36), respectively as compared to untreated domestic wastewater. Hence, this consortium can be utilized in wastewater treatment systems of large volume.