Phycoremediation of Metal Pollution of Wastewater Amany F. Hasaballah, T. A. Hegazy, M. S. Ibrahim, and Doaa A. El-Emam Environmental Science Department, Faculty of Science, Damietta University New Damietta City, Egypt. Abstract— Huge interest has recently arisen toward using various kinds of inexpensive and available alternative techniques for wastewater treatment and removal of heavy metals. One of them is the usage of ready biomass of several kinds of algae (macroalgae and microalgae).In this study, we concerned about applying the phycoremediation technology as an alternative, eco-friendly technology for wastewater treatment. We examine the potential of Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus quadricauda (microalgae) and the brown macroalga, Dictyota Dichotoma and Turbinaria Ornata in this technology, (pilot-scale laboratory study). We analyzed the physicochemical characteristic of wastewater before and after treatment with algae and determine the removal capacity of algae for contaminated heavy metals. The results obtained showed that the maximum growth rate, growth index and biomass productivity were obtained at 10 6 cell/ml concentration which was recommended to be used in wastewater treatment. Microalgae pollutants removal efficiency was reached 92.7and 87.5 % for BOD and COD respectively and 100% for TN and TP, while of Turbinaria Ornata reached 44.4,29.3,37.8,84.2,65.3,67.5, 67.8, and 67.1% for TDS, Salinity, Conductivity, Turbidity, BOD, COD, TN and TP respectively but of Dictyota Dichotoma reached 52.3, 39.3, 50.6, 95.3, 72.1, 71.3, 73.5 and 70.4% respectively at the end of the study. Keywords— Phycoremediation, algae, biosorption, heavy metals, wastewater INTRODUCTION The rapid increase in population, industrialization, and urbanization has resulted in the disposal of various pollutants into the water bodies. This discharged effluent is of great concern because it has a toxic or carcinogenic effect on human and living species. Heavy metals for instance, which is widely produced and extremely toxic in relatively low dosages and also recalcitrant and persistent in the environment. Therefore, the removal of these toxins from water prior to supplying water for drinking, bathing, etc. is very important and urgent. There is a wide range of treatment technologies ( physical, chemical and biological) such as chemical precipitation, coagulation-flocculation, flotation, ion exchange, and membrane filtration, bioremediation, ozonation and more .most of these current conventional methods for water treatment require high energy requirements, high operation, and maintenance, cannot effectively respond to diurnal, seasonal, or long-term variations in the composition of wastewater and produce large volumes of sludge which, make them economically unviable for many regions. (Oilgae, 2017) [1]. This makes researchers investigate a new alternative, eco-friendly technology for wastewater treatment. Phycoremediationis the use of algae for the removal or biotransformation of pollutants from wastewater, (John, 2000) [2]. It is considered as an eco-solution to environmental protection and sustainable remediation, (Ezenweani et al., 2018) [3]. FU and Wang 2011 [4], proved with evidence from the literature survey of 185 articles that biosorption is recognized as an effective and economical method for low concentration heavy metal wastewater treatment as an alternative and can remove heavy metal ions with high efficiency, more than that processes which have been widely used to remove metals from wastewater. Many investigations proved that microalgae provides a pathway for the removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon dioxide, heavy metals and pathogens present in wastewaters which necessary for their growth. It also, saves and reduces requirements for chemical remediation and minimizes freshwater use for biomass production as part of a wastewater treatment process. Consequently, it is a promising and advantageous process where faster growth rate accompanied by an elimination of water contamination level,(Brennan et al., 2010) [5]. Previous studies registered the remarkable potential of C. Vulgaris in wastewater treatment. Keffer and Kleinheinz 2002 [6], recorded that, it fixed up to74% carbon dioxide when grown in a photobioreactor, and in absorbing 45–97% nitrogen, 28–96% phosphorus and in reducing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 61– 86% from different type of wastewater such as textile, sewage,municipal ,agricultural and recalcitrant, (Aslan and Kapdan , 2006) [7]. Ezenweaniet al., 2018 [3], recorded that both microalgae removed between 88 and 94% of phosphates and removed 83 and 99% of ammonium and also reduced the concentration of iron by 71% while potassium went down by 70 to 77 %. Furthermore, the performance of C. Vulgaris in synthesized wastewater was improved when co- immobilisedinalginate beads with microalgae growth promotions and Scenedesmus, which removed 100% of ammonium during four consecutive cycles of 48h, and 83% for phosphorus after one cycle of 48h. Thus, C. Vulgaris is considered as one of the best microalgae for bioremediation of wastewater with an impressive International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181 http://www.ijert.org IJERTV8IS090061 (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.) Published by : www.ijert.org Vol. 8 Issue 09, September-2019 346