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Potential Biotechnological Applications of Microalgae Grown in Wastewater: A Holistic Approach

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Application of Microalgae in Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Industrial revolution and population burst have turned out to be the major causes of environmental pollution. Economic growth of countries depends on industrial development which is a major environment polluter as they discharge their wastes into the nearby waterbodies. Another burning issue for the world is fossil fuel scarcity and increased discharge of greenhouse gases resulting in climate change. Therefore researchers around the world are searching for an eco-friendly tool that depollutes wastewater in addition to providing alternatives to the fossil fuel. Microalgae appear to be a feasible option for this purpose. The current chapter describes in detail the composition of wastewater, phycoremediation, nutrient and heavy metal uptake mechanism by microalgae, wastewater utilisation for the cost-effective biofuel production and finally utilisation of their biomass for other commercial purposes such as in food industry, health sector and cosmetic industry.

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Acknowledgements

Amit Kumar Singh acknowledges financial support in the form of Senior Research Fellowship from CSIR New Delhi, India. The authors also acknowledge UGC-SAP and DST-FIST facilities of Biochemistry Department, University of Allahabad, Allahabad.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India

    Amit Kumar Singh & Abhay K. Pandey

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  1. Amit Kumar Singh
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  2. Abhay K. Pandey
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Sanjay Kumar Gupta

  2. Institute for Water and Wastewater Technologies, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa

    Faizal Bux

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Singh, A.K., Pandey, A.K. (2019). Potential Biotechnological Applications of Microalgae Grown in Wastewater: A Holistic Approach. In: Gupta, S., Bux, F. (eds) Application of Microalgae in Wastewater Treatment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13909-4_11

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