Microalgae-Enabled Wastewater Treatment: A Sustainable Strategy for Bioremediation of Pesticides

Abstract

Pesticides have been identified as major contaminants of various waterways. Being classified as potential endocrine disrupting compounds, pesticides in aqueous system are highly hazardous to aquatic organisms and the ecosystem. The treatment of pesticide-containing wastewater can be performed through several means, but a wastewater treatment strategy which emphasizes both treatment efficiency and sustainability is a necessity of current time. In this context, bioremediation has been increasingly promoted as an alternative technique for the remediation of diverse pollutants. Particularly, bioremediation which involves the utilization of microalgae for the removal or conversion of pesticides to the harmless or less harmful compounds is becoming a trend. Exploiting microalgae as a tool for wastewater treatment presents multiple advantages over conventional treatment technologies, which include an opportunity to simultaneously treat pesticide-containing wastewater and nutrient recovery for microalgae cultivation as well as less formation of toxic sludge. This review discusses the roles of microalgae in mitigating pesticide pollution issue, while offering an opportunity for nutrient recovery from various wastewater sources. Based on the current laboratory studies, the use of microalgae bioremediation as a promising strategy for pesticide treatment has been rationalized. The establishment of more pilot scale studies is highly encouraged to further facilitate the implementation of this treatment approach for practical application.

Emerging Applications of Chlorella sp. and Spirulina (Arthrospira) sp.

“…Microalgae, known for their excellent biosorption capacity, have been used in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment for years due to their high biomass growth rates and resilience in various environmental conditions [ 105 ]. Their role in removing organic and emerging contaminants and recovering important nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen from secondary effluents, has been increasingly recognized as a sustainable strategy with industrial potential [ 206 , 207 ]. Given the rise in pesticide use due to growing population and nutritional needs, microalgae-enabled bioremediation offers an innovative solution for treating agricultural run-offs [ 208 ].…”

Degradation and remediation of environmental pollutants by algae

“…The results showed that N. muscorum had tolerance at different concentrations. It is the strain with the highest biodegradation efficiency of the compound (91%) [77]. There is excessive use of organophosphorus pesticides in agricultural production, such as pyridine phosphorus (PY) to inhibit crop losses caused by insects, resulting in soil and water pollution.…”

Microalgae and co-culture for polishing pollutants of anaerobically treated agro-processing industry wastewater: the case of slaughterhouse

“…Furthermore, the microalgae-growing materials in most of the research were cylindrical or conical glass or flasks with a capacity of less than five liters (Yirgu et al 2020 ; Asmare et al 2014 ). The co-culturing of microalgae as photosynthetic organisms has been assumed to have both cooperative associations by exchanging metabolites, leading to the ultimate enrichment of biomass productivity and consequently increasing the nutrient removal efficiency, and competitive associations resulting in the secondary discharge of metabolites (known as allelochemicals) (Gururani et al 2022 ; Goh et al 2022 ; Bacellar Mendes and Vermelho 2013 ; Renuka et al 2013 ; Gonçalves et al 2017 ). Furthermore, these particular interactions among the microalgae in co-culture have numerous benefits for the treatment of agro-processing industry wastewater processes, including slaughterhouses, the promotion of the cell division process, the enhancement of the consumption or reduction of complete nutrients, the introduction of allelochemical production, the resistance to contaminants and predators, and the formation of a settleable system by the mixture of a single-cell organism with flocculating ones (Gururani et al 2022 ; Renuka et al 2013 ).…”

“…Furthermore, these particular interactions among the microalgae in co-culture have numerous benefits for the treatment of agro-processing industry wastewater processes, including slaughterhouses, the promotion of the cell division process, the enhancement of the consumption or reduction of complete nutrients, the introduction of allelochemical production, the resistance to contaminants and predators, and the formation of a settleable system by the mixture of a single-cell organism with flocculating ones (Gururani et al 2022 ; Renuka et al 2013 ). Furthermore, the utilization of microalgae co-cultures or consortiums in wastewater treatment promises the achievability of the decontamination process as the loss of the first microalgae can be equilibrated by the second incorporated microalgae in the co-culture (Goh et al 2022 ; Renuka et al 2013 ). Though the application of Chlorella and Scenedesmus species for agro-processing industry wastewater remediation has been extensively reported with comparable or even better performance relative to this study, as far as our knowledge is concerned, the potential of coupling the two-phase anaerobic digestion system treating slaughterhouse wastewater with microalgae isolated from local freshwater bodies cultivated in a photobioreactor for COD, TN, NH 4 + –N, TP, and PO 4 −3 –P removal as well as biomass production removal as well as biomass production is not studied so far.…”