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Microalgae-based bioremediation of refractory pollutants: an approach towards environmental sustainability
Open accessAbstract
Abstract Extensive anthropogenic activity has led to the accumulation of organic and inorganic contaminants in diverse ecosystems, which presents significant challenges for the environment and its inhabitants. Utilizing microalgae as a bioremediation tool can present a potential solution to these challenges. Microalgae have gained significant attention as a promising biotechnological solution for detoxifying environmental pollutants. This is due to their advantages, such as rapid growth rate, cost-effectiveness, high oil-rich biomass production, and ease of implementation. Moreover, microalgae-based remediation is more environmentally sustainable for not generating additional waste sludge, capturing atmospheric CO 2 , and being efficient for nutrient recycling and sustainable algal biomass production for biofuels and high-value-added products generation. Hence, microalgae can achieve sustainability's three main pillars (environmental, economic, and social). Microalgal biomass can mediate contaminated wastewater effectively through accumulation, adsorption, and metabolism. These mechanisms enable the microalgae to reduce the concentration of heavy metals and organic contaminants to levels that are considered non-toxic. However, several factors, such as microalgal strain, cultivation technique, and the type of pollutants, limit the understanding of the microalgal removal mechanism and efficiency. Furthermore, adopting novel technological advancements (e.g., nanotechnology) may serve as a viable approach to address the challenge of refractory pollutants and bioremediation process sustainability. Therefore, this review discusses the mechanism and the ability of different microalgal species to mitigate persistent refractory pollutants, such as industrial effluents, dyes, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. Also, this review paper provided insight into the production of nanomaterials, nanoparticles, and nanoparticle-based biosensors from microalgae and the immobilization of microalgae on nanomaterials to enhance bioremediation process efficiency. This review may open a new avenue for future advancing research regarding a sustainable biodegradation process of refractory pollutants.
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“From an environmental perspective, the narrative surrounding microalgae is about their major impact on bioremediation, where they capture CO2 from the atmosphere and absorb pollutants from wastewater, while also producing value-added biomass (Bhatt et al., 2022; El-Sheekh et al., 2025).”
From Microalgae biotechnology and its role in sustainable and healthy food design (2025) · cites this paper as El-Sheekh et al., 2025
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Microalgae-based wastewater treatment: Mechanisms, challenges, recent advances, and future prospects
Abdelfattah, A., Ali, S. S., Ramadan, H., El-Aswar, E. I., Eltawab, R., Ho, S.-H., Elsamahy, T., Li, S., El-Sheekh, M. M., Schagerl, M., et al. (2023) · Environmental Science and Ecotechnology · doi:10.1016/j.ese.2022.100205 · Cited by 894 · cited 2×
“In recent years, the significance of low-cost biological wastewater treatment with algae has been emphasized as a viable alternative to conventional waste-water treatment methods [17].”
Self-citationIntegrating micro-algae into wastewater treatment: a review
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Biological Methods for Textile Dye Removal from Wastewater: A Review
Bhatia, D., Sharma, N. R., Singh, J., & Kanwar, R. S. (2017) · Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology · doi:10.1080/10643389.2017.1393263 · Cited by 816
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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Meneses-Montero, K., Rojas-Villalta, D., Orozco-Ortiz, C., Jerez-Navarro, A., & Gómez-Espinoza, O. (2025) · BioEnergy Research · doi:10.1007/s12155-025-10837-9 · Cited by 16
Metadata
- Authors
- El-Sheekh, M. M., El-Kassas, H. Y., & Ali, S. S.
- Affiliations
- Tanta University (EG)
- National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (EG)
- Corresponding author
- El-Sheekh, Mostafa M.
- Venue
- Microbial Cell Factories
- Published
- 2025-01-14
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19-19
- ISSN
- 1475-2859 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11734528
- OpenAlex
- W4406362337
- Cited by
- 86
- References
- 263
- Citations by year
- 2026: 49 · 2025: 37
- FWCI
- 3.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Microbial Cell Factories (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Tanta University
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Adsorption and biosorption for pollutant removal
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Environmental and Analytical Chemistry Studies
- Keywords
- microalgae, bioremediation, recalcitrant pollutants, heavy metals, organic pollutants, dye removal, pesticide removal, pharmaceutical pollutants, industrial wastewater, microalgal biomass, nanomaterials, nanoparticle biosensors, microalgae immobilization, wastewater treatment, CO2 capture, biofuels, nanotechnology
- MeSH terms
- Biodegradation, Environmental, Environmental Pollutants, Biomass, Metals, Heavy, Microalgae
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