Application of Microalgae in Wastewater Treatment and Water Recycling: A Novel Approach for Sustainable Water Resource Management

The increasing global demand for freshwater, driven by population growth, industrialization, agriculture, and climate change, has created urgent challenges for sustainable water resource management. Microalgae-based wastewater treatment and water recycling present a promising solution by integrating environmental remediation with resource recovery. Microalgae efficiently assimilate nutrients, organic matter, heavy metals, and emerging contaminants from wastewater through photosynthetic and mixotrophic processes, generating biomass that can be utilized for biofuels, fertilizers, or animal feed. The use of advanced cultivation systems, including photobioreactors, membrane photobioreactors, high-rate algal ponds, and microalgae–bacteria consortia, enhances treatment efficiency, oxygenation, and process stability. Symbiotic interactions within algal–bacterial systems improve nutrient removal, reduce biochemical oxygen demand, and facilitate biomass aggregation, lowering harvesting costs. Furthermore, microalgae exhibit heavy metal biosorption, biotransformation, and bioaccumulation capabilities, although proper post-processing is critical to mitigate environmental risks. Economic and environmental assessments indicate that optimizing reactor design, light management, mixing, and low-cost harvesting strategies is key for scaling up operations while maintaining cost-effectiveness and sustainability. Integration with circular economy principles through co-production of bioenergy and bioproducts enhances system feasibility. Despite progress, challenges remain in energy management, biomass handling, and maintaining consistent performance under variable wastewater conditions. Overall, microalgae-based systems have the potential to transform conventional wastewater treatment plants into biorefineries, supporting sustainable water management, environmental protection, and resource recovery. Interdisciplinary collaboration across biology, engineering, economics, and policy is essential to achieve scalable and resilient applications.

کلیدواژه ها:

Wastewater Treatment ، Microalgae ، Environment ، Photobioreactor ، Bioremediation