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Algae-Mediated Resource Recovery from Urban Wastewater

  • BIOLOGY AND POLLUTION (R BOOPATHY AND Y HONG, SECTION EDITORS)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Microalgae-mediated resource recovery and recycling of wastewater might be useful in producing biomass, biofertilizers, and environmentally acceptable bioproducts. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities of wastewater valorization to valuable algal biomass by opting a self-sustainable carbon-neutral approach.

Recent Findings

Various challenges and opportunities of using unsterilized urban wastewater are explored to provide insights into addressing the processing issues. Major wastewater challenges include turbidity with blackish appearance, emerging contaminants, pathogenic microbial community, and higher nutrient load. A brief comparison of sterilization techniques has been made, mainly focusing on principles, advantages, and limitations. Despite the challenges, it is found that microalgae-based resource recovery could be a viable and promising opportunity in a wastewater-driven integrated biorefinery paradigm.

Summary

Despite the availability of various wastewater treatment methods, microalgae-based wastewater treatment is promising, and carbon neutral approach which transforms the nutrients to valuable biomass, thereby reducing the nutrient load of the water. However, microalgal cultivation in wastewater encounters physical and biological challenges. In this article, challenges, opportunities, and sterilization methods of wastewater are critically reviewed concerning microalgae-based resource recovery from the urban wastewater. The processing of wastewater-produced algal biomass could be valorized into multiple products in minimal waste and carbon-neutral paradigm.

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Funding

Authors are thankful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.22078308), Innovation Leadership Program in Sciences and Technologies for Central Plains Talent Plan (NO.214200510009), Program for Science & Technology Innovative Research Team in the University of Henan Province (No.22IRTSTHN007), and Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (NRPU 7300) for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Muhammad Usman, Jingliang Xu & Md. Asraful Alam

  2. Bioenergy Research Centre, Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Mahwish Amin, Iqra Kamal & Muhammad Aamer Mehmood

  3. US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Ayesha Shahid

  4. Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resources Development on Shallow Lake of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Ghulam Abbas Ashraf

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA, 70310, USA

    Raj Boopathy

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  1. Muhammad Usman
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  2. Mahwish Amin
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  3. Iqra Kamal
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Correspondence to Muhammad Aamer Mehmood, Ghulam Abbas Ashraf or Raj Boopathy.

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Highlights

• Proactive efforts are needed to reclaim and reuse wastewater to achieve sustainability

• Microalgae-mediated resource recovery offers multiple benefits

• Physical and biological parameters hinder the applicability of wastewater utilization

• Two-stage cultivation of microalgae in wastewater could be a sustainable approach

• Wastewater-derived integrated biorefinery may help to achieve the sustainability goals

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Biology and Pollution

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Usman, M., Amin, M., Kamal, I. et al. Algae-Mediated Resource Recovery from Urban Wastewater. Curr Pollution Rep 9, 243–258 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40726-023-00254-x

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