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Algae as a green technology for heavy metals removal from various wastewater

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Abstract

Urbanization, industrialization, and natural earth processes have potentially increased the contamination of heavy metals (HMs) in water bodies. These HMs can accumulate in human beings through the consumption of contaminated water and food chains. Various clean-up technologies have been applied to sequester HMs, especially conventional methods including electrolytic technologies, ion exchange, precipitation, chemical extraction, hydrolysis, polymer micro-encapsulation, and leaching. However, most of these approaches are expensive for large-scale projects and require tedious control and constant monitoring, along with low efficiency for effective HMs removal. Algae offer an alternative, sustainable, and environmentally friendly HMs remediation approach. This review presents a state-of-the-art technology for potential use of algae as a low-cost biosorbent for the removal of HMs from wastewater. The mechanisms of HMs removal, including biosorption and bioaccumulation along with physical and chemical characterization of the algae are highlighted. The influence of abiotic factors on HMs removal and changes in algal biocomponents (including, carbohydrate, lipid, and protein) are discussed. Recent progresses made in the development of HMs-tolerant algal strains and the direction of future research toward the development of sustainable technology for advanced wastewater treatment and biomass production are covered.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MEST) (Grant No. 2017R1A2B2004143), and by a Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (Grant No. KETEP-20163010092250).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, People’s Republic of China

    El-Sayed Salama

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University, Wonju, Gangwon-do, 220-710, South Korea

    Hyun-Seog Roh

  3. Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, South Korea

    Subhabrata Dev & Byong-Hun Jeon

  4. Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Moonis Ali Khan

  5. Department of Environmental Biotechnology, City of Scientific Research and Technology Applications, New Borg El Arab, Alexandria, 21934, Egypt

    Reda A. I. Abou-Shanab

  6. Biotechnology Institute, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Reda A. I. Abou-Shanab

  7. Department of Environmental Engineering, Kyonggi University, Suwon, 16627, South Korea

    Soon Woong Chang

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  1. El-Sayed Salama
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  2. Hyun-Seog Roh
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  3. Subhabrata Dev
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  4. Moonis Ali Khan
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  7. Byong-Hun Jeon
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Correspondence to Byong-Hun Jeon.

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Salama, ES., Roh, HS., Dev, S. et al. Algae as a green technology for heavy metals removal from various wastewater. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 35, 75 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-019-2648-3

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