Research progress on treatment of antibiotic-containing wastewater by microalgae

Abstract

With the wide application of antibiotics, the treatment problem of wastewater containing antibiotics is already imminent. Microalgae technology has been proved to have the potential to degrade antibiotic pollutants, and has been widely studied by industry scholars. As mixotrophic organisms, microalgae can synthesize compounds such as sugars, proteins and lipids by absorbing CO2 and nutrients, which have been confirmed to have the potential to degrade pollutants. This paper summarizes the results of the traditional and new methods of microalgae and various methods. The biomass synthesis of treated microalgae, the mechanisms of antibiotic degradation were explored and the contributions of these mechanisms were compared. Finally, the shortage of microalgae treatment of antibiotic-containing wastewater is summarized and the following research direction should be clarified, in order to lay a foundation for the further large-scale development and resource utilization of microalgae treatment in the future.

Keywords

• microalgae
• antibiotics
• wastewater treatment
• biomass
• degradation mechanism