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Microalgae: Gizmo to Heavy Metals Removal

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The Role of Microalgae in Wastewater Treatment

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Abstract

The memento of environmental pollution is mounting so fast that if we don’t kill it, it will kill us. In the race to prove our supremacy, we have forgotten the rules of “Mother Nature,” thereby deteriorating the nature’s beauty and precious resources. We are living in the planet as if we have another option to go. Now we have to be a part of solution, not a part of pollution, and need to take stringent control measures to save the lives on earth. Several environmental management plans and policy have been implemented to seize pollution to some extent. However, one such application which has caught the attention of the world is use of microalgae as an indicator for removal of environmental pollutant. They can be used for biotransformation, bioaccumulation, and biodegradation of specific pollutants from wastewater. Nonetheless, the relevance of microalgae makes them a jewel for reducing pollution. Along with this, they have the ability to reduce biological oxygen demand, remove N and P, and suppress the growth of coliforms bacteria. Being a photosynthetic organism, they convert solar energy and CO2 into biomass enriched with N and P. They capture CO2 gas from the atmosphere during the basic photosynthesis process resulting in reducing greenhouse gases. This algal-based system can help in removing pollutant from wastewater by separating the biomass which is supersaturated with metal content from the medium resulting in high-quality reusable effluent water. Notably, another approach can also be made by immobilizing the algal components that can act as an absorbent and studying the adsorption capacity for uptaking of toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, scandium, tin, arsenic, and bromine from wastewater. This will minimize the disposal cost and eliminate the generation of secondary pollutions, which would be a perfect replacement to the conventional technologies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR-National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Delhi Zonal Center, New Delhi, India

    Sradhanjali Singh

  2. Biofuels and Bioprocessing Research Center, Institute of Technical Education and Research, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Debabrata Pradhan & Lala Behari Sukla

Authors
  1. Sradhanjali Singh
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  2. Debabrata Pradhan
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  3. Lala Behari Sukla
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Debabrata Pradhan or Lala Behari Sukla .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biofuels and Bioprocessing Research Center, Institute of Technical Education and Research, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Lala Behari Sukla

  2. Biomics & Biodiversity Laboratory, Centre for Biotechnology, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Enketeswara Subudhi

  3. Biofuels and Bioprocessing Research Center, Institute of Technical Education and Research, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Debabrata Pradhan

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Singh, S., Pradhan, D., Sukla, L.B. (2019). Microalgae: Gizmo to Heavy Metals Removal. In: Sukla, L., Subudhi, E., Pradhan, D. (eds) The Role of Microalgae in Wastewater Treatment . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1586-2_17

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