ABSTRACT
Environmental pollution owing to various anthropogenic activities is a global threat to the sustainability of various life forms on Earth. Pollution caused due to heavy metals and dyes represents a chronic ecological issue. Purging of heavy metals and dyes from the waste effluents is a crucial topical problem. Though various physico-chemical methods are available for the treatment of such wastewater, major drawbacks of these methods like high sludge production, cumbersome disposal and handling, high cost, and technical aspects, etc. discourage the users. The adsorption onto activated carbon is considered as a highly promising technique to remove the dyes from effluents, but the economic problems limit the use of activated carbon. Bioremediation through algal biomass is a fruitful and cheap process. Production of algal biomass using wastewater reduces aquatic pollution; treated water can be further utilized for different industrial applications and agriculture purposes. Algal biomass cultivated using wastewater can be used as a potential feedstock for generating different forms of biofuel such as biodiesel, biogas, ethanol, etc., which also helps in making the overall process cost-effective and sustainable.
