ABSTRACT
Paint industries are among industries that pollutes the environment with industrial effluents. These effluents are waste water or liquid waste generated by the paint manufacturing process. This study is aimed at evaluating the effects of paint industry effluents on the growth of two freshwater microalgae:Cyanophora paradoxa, and Ankistrodesmus falcatus. The experiment was set up in triplicates of different concentrations (control (0), 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) which were grown in a culture medium for 14 days.On a visible spectrophotometer, optical density at 750 nm was used to quantify growth responses, and several physicochemical variables were studied at the start and end using standard methods. Using Microsoft Excel 2010 and the social sciences statistical tool SPSS20, descriptive statistics, inferential (one way analysis of variance) ANOVA repeated measures, paired t-tests, and Tukey tests were performed.The result showed that there were statistical significant difference in the growth of Cyanophora paradoxa and Ankistrodesmus falcatus with a percentage yield of (p< .05). The growth of Cyanophora paradoxa was stimulated by different concentrations of paint industry effluent, Tukey test showed that 25, and 20%concentrations had higher mean differences, followed by 15 and 10% concentrations. While for Ankistrodesmus falcatus 5, and 25% had the highest mean difference, followed by 10, and 15% concentrations. Only TOC and COD of paint industry effluent declined at lower concentrations and remained constant at higher concentrations, according to the results of physicochemical variables.When used in higher concentrations, Ankistrodesmus falcatus showed a stronger stimulatory impact than Cyanophora paradoxa, making it a superior alternative for bioremediation of paint industry effluent.
