Sustainable wastewater management using microalgae: A review of pilot and full-scale applications

The growing pressures on water, nutrients, food, and energy pose a significant global threat, and although microalgae-based wastewater cultivation offers dual benefits for environmental remediation and resource recovery, substantial challenges still impede its effective implementation. Pilot-scale studies are critical, offering essential insights into optimizing growth conditions, nutrient uptake, and overall operational performance, thereby forming the foundation for scaling up the technology. Full-scale implementations further demonstrate the practical feasibility of integrating microalgae cultivation into existing wastewater treatment infrastructure. This review comprehensively examines both pilot- and full-scale applications, highlighting the current state of the technology, key challenges, and future perspectives for advancing microalgae-based wastewater treatment as a sustainable and resource-efficient solution.