Bioremediation by Microalgae: Current Progress and Future Perspectives

Environmental pollution management through conventional methods in the wake of new, recalcitrant, and increasing pollutant loads are no longer adequate or sustainable. Bioaugmentation for pollutant removal is an environmental (water and soil) decontamination approach alternative to the popular and traditional physicochemical methods. Despite bioaugmentation’s attractiveness based on being greener than the traditional methods, there are still several bottlenecks towards operating some bioaugmented processes optimally. Most bioaugmentation problems arise during upscaling successful lab-scale trials to industrial operations. In most cases, the bioaugmented micro-organisms survive for just a short span of time before their populations decrease prior to completion of the pollutant removal task. Research on various aspects meant to address this and other bioaugmentation challenges has been partly successful and such efforts are still ongoing. As part of evaluating and optimising bioaugmentation processes, sustainability concepts should always be considered at every stage of these activities. The application of bioaugmentation techniques is also gaining popularity in other industries, such as biogas production.
 

Keywords: Microalgae, Bioremediation, Sustainable, Contaminants, Omics