ABSTRACT
The environment has always been affected by anthropogenic activities, reflected in urbanization and industrialization. This chapter highlights the benefits of natural systems for wastewater treatment, focusing on the implementation of microalgal-bacterial consortia in standard algal systems such as high rate algae ponds (HRAP) and the research needs for the development of microalgal-bacterial systems. Several treatment technologies are being applied around the world for wastewater treatment. They comprise centralized and decentralized systems such as activated sludge systems, upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors, anaerobic filters, anaerobic baffled reactors, stabilization ponds, wetlands, HRAP, membrane bioreactors, and soil aquifer treatment. Wastewater treatment using microalgae and microalgal-bacterial consortia can provide clean effluents free of organic and inorganic compounds, heavy metals, and pathogens, and simultaneously produce useful biomass, which can be used for the production of biofuels, fertilizers and other bioproducts. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
