Due to the scarcity of freshwater sources on earth, large-scale thermal and membrane-based desalination technologies are widely implemented to utilize the vast brackish and seawater resources in different water-stressed countries. However, the cost and energy demand of the existing technologies prohibit their use on a global scale. Besides, the adverse environmental impacts due to greenhouse gas emission and concentrated brine discharge become additional environmental concerns. Thus, the development of alternative, energy, and cost-efficient methods for water desalination becomes an attractive field of research. Bio - desalination using microalgae is one of the new and promising techniques in which salt is removed through a biological process, photosynthesis, which is driven by sunlight. Due to this, it is believed to provide low-cost desalted water with minimum or no environmental impact. Besides, the high CO2 sequestering ability and biomass lipid content of microalgae provide additional benefits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and biofuel production, respectively. Different microalgae spices have a distinct desalination performance. Microalgae originated from saline habitats can optimize their growth profile under salt stress and could be good candidates for desalination application. Hence, this study is focused on the isolation and identification of salt-tolerant green microalgae species from a Brackish Lake, Lake Beseka, Ethiopia, and examine its growth and desalination ability at different salt concertation. Results obtained so far show that <i>Scenedesmsus sp</i>. isolated from this Lake can grow well under brackish water having a salinity of 2500 ppm to 10,000ppm.

Biodesalination of brackish water using salt tolerant microalgae isolated from a saline Lake, Lake Beseka, Ethiopia

ACS Fall 2021

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