ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses phycoremediation and wastewater treatment, heavy metal removal, mechanism of nutrient removal, factors affecting microalgae culture, microalgae cultivation systems and microalgal biomass as a sustainable bioproduct. It aims to summarize research studies available on the potential uses of microalgae biomass produced from the phycoremediation of wastewater. In a wastewater treatment system, the elimination or reduction of unnecessary contaminants such as biochemical oxygen demand, toxins, bacteria, suspended solids, nutrients and coliform is necessary and must therefore comply with international standards. Microalgae have been previously suggested as one of the alternative methods for nutrient removal from wastewater. Wastewater treatment using microalgae appears to be more reliable as it can be used for both biomass growth and removal of biological wastewater contaminants. Microalgae can basically be cultivated in open systems and closed systems. The open system can be done on a large scale at a low cost.
