The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cultivating Parachlorella kessleri and Acutodesmus obliquus, in anaerobic digestion effluent (ADE) derived from the co-digestion of end-of-life dairy products with mixtures of agro-industrial wastes. To this end, their performance under sterile and non-sterile conditions and different ADE loadings was evaluated, in terms of biomass and lipid production, nutrient removal efficiency and vitality of the photosynthetic apparatus. 10% (v/v) ADE loading inhibited growth over 9-12 days of cultivation, however biomass yields of 1.1 and 1 g L-1, 22.7% and 19.5% (w/w) fatty acids concentration, as well as NH3-N assimilation of 49.7 mg L-1 and 32.3 mg L-1 and TP removal of 84.2% and 84% were recorded for P. kessleri and A. obliquus, respectively. Among all the ADE-based treatments tested, P. kessleri outperformed A. obliquus, with no differences observed between sterilized and non-sterilized ADE. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.