Department of Environmental Science and Policies
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Science
Department of Chemistry
RESEARCH & PROJECTS
Department of Environmental Science and Policies
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Science
Department of Chemistry
e-BioPond
Organic-rich secondary products of food industry and wastewaters are important sources of nutrients. We propose a technological alternative to recover these nutrients and grow microalgae cultures: the e-BioPond, assisting microalgae cultivations by the introduction of microbial electrochemical technologies.
e-Bio Pond Construction
In e-BioPond (patent pending Italian deposit 102018000010683 - 29/11/2018), a separation between the microalgae culture and the wastewater is obtained using low-cost composite membranes (international patent pending n. 102017000110538 - ref E0116619), with the shape of pipes or panels (microbial electrochemical pipe/panel, MEP). The pore dimensions of such materials (<500 nm) is smaller than the microbial cells. This keeps the two environments separated in terms of microbial contamination.
In the inner volume of MEPs, a conductive material acts like a bioanode, where wastewater flows and electroactive microorganisms anaerobically oxidize the organic fractions and liberate CO2/HCO3- and minerals (NH4+, NO3-, etc.). On the microalgae-side, another conductive layer acts like a biocathode, where electroactive microorganisms reduce the photosynthetic oxygen.
Simultaneously, inorganic carbon and dissolved nutrients are allowed to diffuse through the separator to the cathodic chamber, where microalgae utilize them as growth medium.
High-quality microalgae biomass can be obtained from this system, as compared to state-of-the-art open ponds for wastewater treatment.
Animal feed supplements, plant biostimulants, as well as pigment extracts are obtained from different microalgae strains.
A prototype scale e-BioPond® system (TRL = 6) is available at e-BioCenter-ESP – University of Milan, in collaboration with the company Algaria srl. This project has already attracted funds by the H2020 program through the Neptune Blue Growth Accelerator for SMEs and the open innovation program by Lombardy Region (TTAgrilab project for SMEs).
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