Microalgae-based biorefineries for sustainable resource recovery from wastewater

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101747
• Publication Date: 2020-10-29T03:19:04Z
• Authors: Rahul Kumar Goswami; Sanjeet Mehariya; Pradeep Verma; Roberto Lavecchia; Antonio Zuorro
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; bioenergy; circular economy; microalgae; nanoparticles; resource recovery; wastewater; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 6. Clean water; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences; 12. Responsible consumption

Abstract Extensive and improper utilization of water from industrial, municipal, and agricultural activities generate 380 trillion L/y of wastewater worldwide. Wastewaters from different sources contain enormous amounts of nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Thus, the recovery of these nutrients via appropriate sustainable process becomes a necessity. Among various processes microalgae-based technologies has attracted considerable attention and its strategies for sustainable and low-cost treatment of wastewater has allowed removal of over 70% nutrient loads from the wastewater. After the treatment of wastewater, the harvested microalgae biomass contains value-added biomolecules which can used for bioenergy production and nanoparticle synthesis. At present, high operational costs represent a major limitation for the development of microalgae-based biorefineries. Thus, the main aim of the review is to provide the knowledge about the potential of low-cost microalgae-based integrated biorefinery for wastewater treatments and resource recovery. Also, this review provides the insight of microalgae biomass-based bioenergy products, nanoparticles synthesis their application within the concept of circular bioeconomy. Furthermore, this review also provides information on different established industries which used microalgae for wastewater treatment.