This Ph.D. aims to investigate the potential of filamentous green macroalgae (Chlorophyta) to bioremediate wastewaters. This will examine the ability of the macroalgae to sequester excess nutrients in effluent streams, as well as its biosorption and bioaccumulation capacity for heavy metals; with an end goal of using the biomass as a feedstock for bioenergy or for metal reclamation.
Current wastewater treatment (WWT) processes are inefficient; as a result, excessive levels of nutrients and heavy metals enter the aquatic environment. This project will investigate the potential of macroalgae to remediate nutrients found in wastewater streams. This will be achieved by varying concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous. Furthermore, it will investigate its capacity to bind and sequester heavy metals. Specifically, this will include experimenting on live versus dead biomass, and single and multi-ion solutions (to see the antagonistic/synergistic effects of metals upon one another and upon the algae). I am also interested in the biological effects the heavy metals will have upon the macroalgae.
Principal Investigator:
Dr Andrea JC Semiao, Dr Michele Stanley (SAMS), Dr John G Day (SAMS)
