Abstract:Anaerobic digestion food effluent (ADFE) is rich in nutrients, and the residual liquid after ammonia stripping still contains a large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients, making it a potential high-quality culture medium for microalgae cultivation. Two microalgae,Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus quadricauda(S. quadricauda), were selected as the objects of study, and the residual liquid after ammonia stripping of ADFE (referred to as “ammonia stripping digestate”) was cultured,,and the growth characteristics, purification effect of pollutants and secretion of extracellular polymers (EPS) were investigated in the digestate at different concentrations (20%,,40%,60%,,80% and 100%). The results showed that both microalgae species grew well in medium to low concentrations of digestate (40%~60%). Chlorella sp. achieved the highest biomass of 1.0 g/L in 40% concentration of ammonia stripped digestate, while S. quadricauda obtained the maximum biomass of 0.9 g/L at a 60% concentration. However, in high concentrations of digestate (80%~100%), the growth of microalgae was somewhat inhibited, and the removal efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus was decreased. When cultivating Chlorella sp. and S. quadricauda with medium to low concentrations of digestate (20%~ 60%), the removal effects on total nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were the best. The highest removal rates for Chlorella sp. were 41.14%,,48.64%,77.70%, and 62.08%, respectively;while for S. quadricauda, the highest removal rates were 59.10%,,58.39%,,82.65%, and 63.43%, which were higher than those of Chlorella sp. Analysis of EPS also revealed that the content of EPS in microalgae was firstly increased and then decreased with extended cultivation time. Chlorella sp. had the highest content in 40% digestate, whereas S.quadricauda had the highest content in 80% digestate. Furthermore, three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy analysis indicated that the main organic components of EPS were soluble microbial byproducts and fulvic acids. Therefore, considering the microalgal biomass, nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient removal efficiencies, and the cost of digestate dilution,S. quadricauda showed high adaptability in ADFE treatment. The research result can provide insights into the sustainable management and resource utilization of digestate.