Co-culture of fungi-microalgae consortium for wastewater treatment: A review

• Published in: Bioresource technology Vol. 330; p. 125008
• Main Authors: Leng, Lijian, Li, Wenting, Chen, Jie, Leng, Songqi, Chen, Jiefeng, Wei, Liang, Peng, Haoyi, Li, Jun, Zhou, Wenguang, Huang, Huajun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2021
• Subjects: adhesion; Biomass; Co-culture; coculture; Coculture Techniques; Consortium; exopolysaccharides; Filamentous fungi; Flocculation; Fungi; Harvest; hyphae; Microalgae; neutralization; pollution control; surface proteins; Waste Water; wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Consortium; Microalgae; Co-culture; Harvest; Wastewater treatment; Filamentous fungi
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125008

[Display omitted] •Microalgae can be effectively harvested by co-pelletization with fungi.•Fungi-microalgae consortium has a complementary effect on pollutant removal.•Fungi-microalgae biomass facilitated the production of biofuel and lipid.•Fungi-microalgae consortium may outperform bacteria-microalgae in some areas. The treatment of wastewater by microalgae has been studied and proved to be effective through previous studies. Due to the small size of microalgae, how to efficiently harvest microalgae from wastewater is a crucial factor restricting the development of algal technologies. Fungi-assisted microalgae bio-flocculation for microalgae harvesting and wastewater treatment simultaneously, which was overlooked previously, has attracted increasing attention in the recent decade due to its low cost and high efficiency. This review found that fungal hyphae and microalgae can stick together due to electrostatic neutralization, surface protein interaction, and exopolysaccharide adhesion in the co-culture process, realizing co-pelletization of microalgae and fungi, which is conducive to microalgae harvesting. Besides, the combination of fungi and microalgae has a complementary effect on pollutant removal from wastewaters. The co-culture of fungi-microalgae has excellent development prospects with both environmental and economic benefits, and it is expected to be applied on an industrial scale.