Treatment of Wastewaters by Microalgae and the Potential Applications of the Produced Biomass—A Review

Jabri, Hareb Al; Das, Probir; Khan, Shoyeb; Thaher, Mahmoud; AbdulQuadir, Mohammed

doi:10.3390/w13010027

Cited by 134 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 239 publications

(239 reference statements)

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“…Another study compares wastewater from three different sources like household, domestic, and offices, and found maximum phosphorus content in domestic waste as given in Table 1 (Vandith et al, 2018). Table 2 provides an elaborate picture of how microalgae can treat different sources of wastewater efficiently (Li et al, 2019;Al-Jabri et al, 2020). For about 38000 million liters per day of sewage generated, only 12000 million liters per day get treated in India, and among 35 metropolitan cities, only 51% of sewages, i.e., 8040 million liters per day of sewage treatment capacity exist for 15644 million liters per day of wastewater generated (National Status of Waste Water Generation and Treatment, 2020).…”

Section: Composition Of Wastewatermentioning

confidence: 99%

Valorization of Wastewater Resources Into Biofuel and Value-Added Products Using Microalgal System

et al. 2021

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Wastewater is not a liability, instead considered as a resource for microbial fermentation and value-added products. Most of the wastewater contains various nutrients like nitrates and phosphates apart from the organic constituents that favor microbial growth. Microalgae are unicellular aquatic organisms and are widely used for wastewater treatment. Various cultivation methods such as open, closed, and integrated have been reported for microalgal cultivation to treat wastewater and resource recovery simultaneously. Microalgal growth is affected by various factors such as sunlight, temperature, pH, and nutrients that affect the growth rate of microalgae. Microalgae can consume urea, phosphates, and metals such as magnesium, zinc, lead, cadmium, arsenic, etc. for their growth and reduces the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). The microalgal biomass produced during the wastewater treatment can be further used to produce carbon-neutral products such as biofuel, feed, bio-fertilizer, bioplastic, and exopolysaccharides. Integration of wastewater treatment with microalgal bio-refinery not only solves the wastewater treatment problem but also generates revenue and supports a sustainable and circular bio-economy. The present review will highlight the current and advanced methods used to integrate microalgae for the complete reclamation of nutrients from industrial wastewater sources and their utilization for value-added compound production. Furthermore, pertaining challenges are briefly discussed along with the techno-economic analysis of current pilot-scale projects worldwide.

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Section: Composition Of Wastewatermentioning

confidence: 99%

Valorization of Wastewater Resources Into Biofuel and Value-Added Products Using Microalgal System

et al. 2021

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“…The use of mechanical or biological control rather than conventional chemical treatment is the essential component of IPM strategy (Lee and White, 2019;Al-Jabri et al, 2021). The pest types and their density often determine control operation.…”

Section: Sustainable Cultivation Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Be it a monoculture or polyculture of microalgal strains, efficient pilot harvesting of biomass is vital, especially when the treated wastewater must be brought to re-use. Leaving back the traditional concept of drying, solvent extraction of lipids, and transesterification for the production of fatty acid methyl esters, all the time more interest is being directed towards the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process for bio-oil productions (Al-Jabri et al, 2021;Chen and Quinn, 2021). This aqueous phase from the HTL process contains high concentrations of nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements that can be recycled for microalgal growth.…”

Section: Wastewater Recycling and Nutrient Utilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of Algal Biofuels With Bioremediation Coupled Industrial Commodities Towards Cost-Effectiveness

et al. 2021

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Microalgae offer a great potential to contribute significantly as renewable fuels and documented as a promising platform for algae-based bio refineries. They provide solutions to mitigate the environmental concerns posed by conventional fuel sources; however, the production of microalgal biofuels in large scale production system encounters few technical challenges. High quantity of nutrients requirements and water cost constrain the scaling up microalgal biomass to large scale commercial production. Crop protection against biomass losses due to grazers or pathogens is another stumbling block in microalgal field cultivation. With our existing technologies, unless coupled with high-value or mid-value products, algal biofuel cannot reach the economic target. Many microalgal industries that started targeting biofuel in the last decade had now adopted parallel business plans focusing on algae by-products application as cosmetic supplements, nutraceuticals, oils, natural color, and animal feed. This review provides the current status and proposes a framework for key supply demand, challenges for cost-effective and sustainable use of water and nutrient. Emphasis is placed on the future industrial market status of value added by products of microalgal biomass. The cost factor for biorefinery process development needs to be addressed before its potential to be exploited for various value-added products with algal biofuel.

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“…This value-added quality of algal biomass can reduce or offset process-related costs. Although the range of allowable applications for waste-grown biomass remains somewhat restricted [ 16 ], further research and evidence-based policymaking focused on risk mitigation could lead to a paradigm in which microalgal CO 2 -sequestration, enhanced wastewater treatment, and biomass generation may be effectively combined [ 7 , 17 , 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction between CO2-consuming autotrophy and CO2-producing heterotrophy in non-axenic phototrophic biofilms

Ronan

Kroukamp²,

Liss³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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As the effects of climate change become increasingly evident, the need for effective CO2 management is clear. Microalgae are well-suited for CO2 sequestration, given their ability to rapidly uptake and fix CO2. They also readily assimilate inorganic nutrients and produce a biomass with inherent commercial value, leading to a paradigm in which CO2-sequestration, enhanced wastewater treatment, and biomass generation could be effectively combined. Natural non-axenic phototrophic cultures comprising both autotrophic and heterotrophic fractions are particularly attractive in this endeavour, given their increased robustness and innate O2-CO2 exchange. In this study, the interplay between CO2-consuming autotrophy and CO2-producing heterotrophy in a non-axenic phototrophic biofilm was examined. When the biofilm was cultivated under autotrophic conditions (i.e. no organic carbon), it grew autotrophically and exhibited CO2 uptake. After amending its growth medium with organic carbon (0.25 g/L glucose and 0.28 g/L sodium acetate), the biofilm rapidly toggled from net-autotrophic to net-heterotrophic growth, reaching a CO2 production rate of 60 μmol/h after 31 hours. When the organic carbon sources were provided at a lower concentration (0.125 g/L glucose and 0.14 g/L sodium acetate), the biofilm exhibited distinct, longitudinally discrete regions of heterotrophic and autotrophic metabolism in the proximal and distal halves of the biofilm respectively, within 4 hours of carbon amendment. Interestingly, this upstream and downstream partitioning of heterotrophic and autotrophic metabolism appeared to be reversible, as the position of these regions began to flip once the direction of medium flow (and hence nutrient availability) was reversed. The insight generated here can inform new and important research questions and contribute to efforts aimed at scaling and industrializing algal growth systems, where the ability to understand, predict, and optimize biofilm growth and activity is critical.

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Treatment of Wastewaters by Microalgae and the Potential Applications of the Produced Biomass—A Review

Cited by 134 publications

References 239 publications

Valorization of Wastewater Resources Into Biofuel and Value-Added Products Using Microalgal System

Valorization of Wastewater Resources Into Biofuel and Value-Added Products Using Microalgal System

Integration of Algal Biofuels With Bioremediation Coupled Industrial Commodities Towards Cost-Effectiveness

Interaction between CO2-consuming autotrophy and CO2-producing heterotrophy in non-axenic phototrophic biofilms

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