Mitigating antibiotic pollution in wastewater by harnessing the potential of microalgae-based bioremediation technologies

The excessive use of antibiotics and their increasing environmental concentrations is a severe threat and potential hazard to public health. Unfortunately, traditional wastewater treatment technologies aren't efficient against antibiotic- and other emerging contaminant-rich wastewater. Recently, nature-based methods for wastewater treatment, such as algal-based technologies, have been observed to be viable and capable of the significant bioremediation of antibiotics in wastewater environments. Microalgae, including Scenedesmus quadricauda and Chlorella psychrophile, have already been reported as capable of absorbing and removing tetracycline and azithromycin antibiotics, respectively. Numerous algal species can also remove a significant proportion of different numbers of antibiotics through biodegradation when global wastewater pollution is at a record high. Microalgae may even affect the solubility of antibiotics through hydrolysis, leading to a breakdown of the β-lactam ring structure where present or through the resulting changes in pH, etc. This review provides critical insight into the important factors in removing antibiotic pollution from wastewater and enhancing the removal efficiency.