Wastewater treatment is an energy- and resource-intensive process due to the necessity to meet the effluent discharge standards. Besides, wastewater contains substantial quantities of valuable resources, mainly carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous, which could be recovered and recycled for secondary applications. Furthermore, resource recovery from wastewater leads to positive economic and environmental impacts while enhancing the sustainable maintenance of a circular bioeconomy. Among various techniques, algae-based wastewater treatment has gained attention in recent years due to sustainable, low-cost, and highly efficient treatment. In general, the proliferation of algae provides the oxygen needed for the degradation of organic compounds by anaerobic microorganisms, which simultaneously provide the carbon dioxide required for algal photosynthesis. Meanwhile, solar irradiation with elevated oxygen and pH, resulting from algal photosynthesis, enhances the disinfection of pathogens in wastewater. Thus, algae cultivation is being immensely exploited in primary, secondary, and tertiary stages of wastewater treatment plants, which has demonstrated significantly high removal efficiencies of pollutants, nutrients, and pathogens, which consequentially lead to advanced wastewater treatment. In addition, algae biomass generated from wastewater-based cultivation contains high-value metabolites, namely lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and carotenoids, among others, which are beneficial in biorefining value-added products, such as food/feed, biofuels, biofertilizers, biopolymers, etc. Nevertheless, there are challenges associated with coupling wastewater treatment and algal cultivation including, but not limited to, maximizing biomass yields and enhancing nutrient removal rates, to develop commercially viable full-scale treatment systems. In this context, the current chapter holistically scrutinizes the prospects of integrating algae cultivation in wastewater treatment plants for efficient energy and resource recovery while focusing on the techno-economic feasibility of algae-based technologies.
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