Hydroponics Effluent Recycling for Bioenergy Using Microalgae

The growing population faces two critical challenges: sustainable energy production and wastewater treatment. In this aspect, microalgae represent a renewable energy source since they have a significant potential to treat nutrient-rich wastewater and produce enormous amounts of biomass, which can produce biofuels. Microalgae convert solar energy into carbon sequestration products, leading to the accumulation of lipids (triacylglycerols), which may be turned into biodiesel and bioethanol. In addition, hydroponics technologies are gaining popularity as they produce a high crop yield in a short duration. However, some of the nutrients remain unutilized and end up with surface water effluent. Hydroponics effluents contain large amounts of residual nutrients that need to be treated before safe discharge. Further, microalgal-based hydroponics effluent treatment, along with resource recovery, could be a promising technique to resolve the current challenges in a sustainable manner. Hence, the current paper focuses on the latest studies on hydroponics effluent treatment and discusses an overview of an integrated approach using microalgae-based hydroponics effluent treatment along with bioenergy generation.