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Vast amounts of plastic waste are causing serious environmental issues and urge to develop of new remediation methods. The aim of the study is to determine the role of inorganic (nitric acid), organic (starch addition), and biological (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) soil amendments on the degradation of Polyethylene (PE) and phytotoxic assessment for the growth of lettuce plant. The PE-degrading bacteria were isolated from the plastic-contaminated soil. The strain was identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (OP007126) and showed the highest degradation percentage for PE. PE was pre-treated with nitric acid as well as starch and incubated in the soil, whereas P. aeruginosa was also inoculated in PE-contaminated soils. Different combinations were also tested. FTIR analysis and weight reduction showed that though nitric acid was efficient in degradation, the combined application of starch and bacteria also showed effective degradation of PE. Phytotoxicity was assessed using morphological, physiological, and biochemical parameters of plant. Untreated PE significantly affected plants' physiology, resulting in a 45% reduction in leaf chlorophyll and a 40% reduction in relative water content. It also had adverse effects on the biochemical parameters of lettuce. Bacterial inoculation and starch treatment mitigated the harmful impact of stress and improved plants' growth as well as physiological and biochemical parameters; however, the nitric treatment proved phytotoxic. The observed results revealed that bacteria and starch could be effectively used for the degradation of pre-treated PE.

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of composite fish gelatin–chitosan edible coatings enriched with black tea extract on the physical, chemical, and fungal decay properties of minimally processed watermelons stored at ±4 °C for 13 days. In this study, tuna skin gelatin was extracted and used to prepare edible coating solutions which comprised 4% gelatin, 2% chitosan, 2% calcium lactate, 2% glycerol, and black tea extract (0%; 0.25%; 0.50%; 0.75%; 1%). The samples were coated using the layer-by-layer dipping technique. This study showed that composite fish gelatin–chitosan edible coating enriched with black tea extract maintained and improved weight loss, texture (hardness), color, pH, and total soluble solid antioxidant activity and prevented fungal decay on minimally processed watermelons stored at ±4 °C for 13 days. The development in this study of edible film and a coating prepared from fish gelatin–chitosan and the incorporation of black tea extract as an antioxidant or antimicrobial agent can be a new approach to preventing postharvest loss and increasing the shelf life of minimally processed watermelon.

Spirulina platensis contain variety of pigments, such as chlorophylls, carotenoids, and phycocyanin. Phycocyanin (PC) exists in abundance, but due to its instability, the utilization of this pigment is still very limited. In this study, the PC was modified using formaldehyde crosslinks yielding phycocyanin-formaldehyde (PC-F), and its photostability was evaluated. The PC-F formation was designated by the distinctive alterations of the maximum absorption to 611 nm, which was 10 nm blue-shifted than those of the PC. Additionally, the sharp peaks of FTIR spectra at 1636 nm for C O and at 1019 nm for C O C, suggesting the interaction of phycocyanin with formaldehyde. The PC-F showed stabilization improvement up to 1.53-folds after 300 mins of yellow light exposure than those of PC. Contrary to yellow light irradiation, a severe decrease of PC-F absorbance was observed reach to 4.9-folds under UV-B irradiation. The poor stability of PC-F upon white light and UV-A irradiation were indicated by the decline of PC-F absorbance up to 1.72 and 1.80, respectively. Moreover, the present study suggests that the modification of phycocyanin by formaldehyde crosslink can increase photostability upon yellow light irradiation.

Carbon steel is one of the most employed materials in many industrial sectors due to its unique physical and mechanical properties. However, within a certain period of time, carbon steel-based materials are susceptible to corrosion under operating conditions and corrosion inhibitors are important to extending the limit of use of carbon steel. In this study, the influence of protoporphyrin from animal blood hemin as an eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor for T22 carbon steel in an acidic environment (0.5 M HCl) was conducted. The hemin isolated from animal blood extracts was modified to obtain the protoporphyrin. The dosage of protoporphyrin was varied between 40 and 200 ppm and the temperature influence were studied in the range of 298–318 K. The inhibition efficiency of protoporphyrin in 0.5 M hydrochloric acid reached up to 46.2% at a dose of 160 ppm at a temperature of 298 K. The inhibition efficiency (IE) value further decreases with increasing temperature, thereby showing the process exothermic in nature and the weakening of the inhibitor molecules to adsorb on the surface of the T22 carbon steel. The potentiodynamic polarization measurements indicate that protoporphyrin acts as a mixed-type inhibitor. The adsorption of protoporphyrin on the surface of T22 carbon steel obeys the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The thermodynamic parameter of adsorption allows us to suggest the adsorption process was dominated by physical adsorption. Thus, these current results present a case study using protoporphyrin as a promising green inhibitor for carbon steel T22 in hydrochloric acid prepared from livestock waste.

Microbial biosensor which integrates different types of microorganisms, such as bacteria, microalgae, fungi, and virus have become suitable technologies to address limitations of conventional analytical methods. The main applications of biosensors include the detection of environmental pollutants, pathogenic bacteria and compounds related to illness, and food quality. Each type of microorganisms possesses advantages and disadvantages with different mechanisms to detect the analytes of interest. Furthermore, there is an increasing trend in genetic modifications for the development of microbial biosensors due to potential for high-throughput analysis and portability. Many review articles have discussed the applications of microbial biosensor, but many of them focusing only about bacterial-based biosensor although other microbes also possess many advantages. Additionally, reviews on the applications of all microbes as biosensor especially viral and microbial fuel cell biosensors are also still limited. Therefore, this review summarizes all the current applications of bacterial-, microalgal-, fungal-, viral-based biosensor in regard to environmental, food, and medical-related applications. The underlying mechanism of each microbes to detect the analytes are also discussed. Additionally, microbial fuel cell biosensors which have great potential in the future are also discussed. Although many advantageous microbial-based biosensors have been discovered, other areas such as forensic detection, early detection of bacteria or virus species that can lead to pandemics, and others still need further investigation. With that said, microbial-based biosensors have promising potential for vast applications where the biosensing performance of various microorganisms are presented in this review along with future perspectives to resolve problems related on microbial biosensors.

Biosurfactant is one of the emerging compounds in the industrial sector that behaves similarly with their synthetic counterparts, as they can reduce surface and interfacial tension between two fluids. Their unique properties also enable biosurfactant molecules to be able to clump together to form micelles that can capture targeted molecules within a solution. Biosurfactants are compared with synthetic surfactants on various applications for which the results shows that biosurfactants are fully capable of replacing synthetic surfactants in applications including enhanced oil recovery and wastewater treatment applications. Biosurfactants are able to be used in different applications as well since they are less toxic than synthetic surfactants. These applications include bioremediation on oil spills in the marine environment and bioremediation for contaminated soil and water, as well as a different approach on the pharmaceutical applications. The future of biosurfactants in the pharmaceutical industry and petroleum industry as well as challenges faced for implementing biosurfactants into large-scale applications are also discussed at the end of this review.

The identification of microalgae species is an important tool in scientific research and commercial application to prevent harmful algae blooms (HABs) and recognizing potential microalgae strains for the bioaccumulation of valuable bioactive ingredients. The aim of this study is to incorporate rapid, high-accuracy, reliable, low-cost, simple, and state-of-the-art identification methods. Thus, increasing the possibility for the development of potential recognition applications, that could identify toxic-producing and valuable microalgae strains. Recently, deep learning (DL) has brought the study of microalgae species identification to a much higher depth of efficiency and accuracy. In doing so, this review paper emphasizes the significance of microalgae identification, and various forms of machine learning algorithms for image classification, followed by image pre-processing techniques, feature extraction, and selection for further classification accuracy. Future prospects over the challenges and improvements of potential DL classification model development, application in microalgae recognition, and image capturing technologies are discussed accordingly.

Continuous automation of conventional industrial operations with smart technology have drawn significant attention. Firstly, the study investigates on optimizing the proportion of industrial biscuit processing waste powder, (B) substituted into BG-11 as a source of cultivation medium for the growth of C. vulgaris. Various percentages of industrial biscuit processing waste powder, (B) were substituted in the inorganic medium to analyse the algal growth and biochemical composition. The use of 40B combination was found to yield highest biomass concentration (4.11 g/L), lipid (260.44 mg/g), protein (263.93 mg/g), and carbohydrate (418.99 mg/g) content compared with all the other culture ratio combination. Secondly, the exploitation of colour acquisition was performed onto C. vulgaris growth phases, and a novel photo-to-biomass concentration estimation was conducted via image processing for three different colour model pixels. Based on linear regression analysis the red, green, blue (RGB) colour model can interpret its colour variance precisely.

Microalgae have emerged as an effective dual strategy for bio-valorisation of food processing wastewater and food waste hydrolysate which favours microalgae cultivation into producing value-added by products mainly lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins to the advantages of bioplastic production. Moreover, various microalgae have successfully removed high amount of organic pollutants from food processing wastewater prior discharging into the environment. Innovation of microalgae cultivating in food processing wastewater greatly reduced the cost of wastewater treatment compared to conventional approach in terms of lower carbon emissions, energy consumption, and chemical usage while producing microalgae biomass which can benefit low-cost fertilizer and bioplastic applications. The study on several microalgae species has all successfully grown on food waste hydrolysates showing high exponential growth rate and biomass production rich in proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and fatty acids. Multiple techniques have been implemented for the extraction of food wastes to be incorporate into the bioplastic production.

Depletion of non-renewable feedstock and severe wastewater pollution due to human activities have created negative impact to living organisms. The potential solution is to implement wastewater treatment and bioelectricity production through algae-based microbial fuel cell. The algae biomass produced from microbial fuel cell could be further processed to generate biofuels through their unique compositions. The consumption of nutrients in wastewater through algae cultivation and biomass produced to be utilized for energy supply have showed the potential of algae to solve the issues faced nowadays. This review introduces the background of algae and mitigation of wastewater using algae as well as the bioenergy status in Malaysia. The mechanisms of nutrient assimilation such as nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, and heavy metals are included, followed by the application of algae in microbial fuel cell's chambers. Lastly, the status of algae for bioenergy production are covered.

Objective: This study explores the sustainable valorization of by-products from tuna fish based on in silico approach. Methods: In silico approaches (BIOPEP database, PeptideRanker database, peptide calculator [PepCalc] database, and toxin prediction [ToxinPred] database) were employed to evaluate the potential of collagens from tuna as a potential source of bioactive peptides. Furthermore, primary structure, biological potential, physicochemical, sensory, and toxicity characteristics of the theoretically released angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor collagen peptides were predicted. Results: Tuna collagen was selected as a potential precursor of bioactive peptides based on in silico analysis. Most notable among these are ACE inhibitory peptides. First, the potential of tuna collagen for the releasing bioactive peptides was evaluated by determining the frequency of occurrence of fragments with a given activity. Through the BIOPEP database analysis, there are many bioactive peptides in tuna collagen sequences. Then, an in silico proteolysis using selected enzymes (papain and pepsin) to obtained ACE inhibitory peptides was investigated and then analyzed using PeptideRanker and PepCalc. Cytotoxicity analysis using the online toxic prediction tool ToxinPred revealed that all in silico proteolysis-derived ACE inhibitory peptides are non-cytotoxic. Conclusions: Overall, the present study highlights that the tuna collagens could be a promising precursor of bioactive peptides that have an antihypertensive effect (ACE inhibitory activities) for developing functional food or nutraceutical products.

Cyanobacteria such as Spirulina platensis secretes numerous biomolecules while consuming CO

The accumulation of conventional petroleum-based polymers has increased exponentially over the years. Therefore, algae-based biopolymer has gained interest among researchers as one of the alternative approaches in achieving a sustainable circular economy around the world. The benefits of microalgae biopolymer over other feedstock is its autotrophic complex to reduce the greenhouse gases emission, rapid growing ability with flexibility in diverse environments and its ability to compost that gives greenhouse gas credits. In contrast, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of algae-based biopolymer in the evaluation of microalgae strains, bioplastic characterization and bioplastic blending technologies. The future prospects and challenges on the algae circular bioeconomy which includes the challenges faced in circular economy, issues regard to the scale-up and operating cost of microalgae cultivation and the life cycle assessment on algal-based biopolymer were highlighted. The aim of this review is to provide insights of algae-based biopolymer towards a sustainable circular bioeconomy.

The potential of new trimetallic (Ce, Cu, La) loaded montmorillonite clay catalyst for synthesizing biodiesel using novel non-edible Celastrus paniculatus Willd seed oil via two-step transesterification reaction has been reported along with catalyst characterization. Transesterification reaction was optimized and maximum biodiesel yield of 89.42% achieved under optimal operating reaction states like; 1:12 oil to methanol ratio, 3.5% of catalyst amount, 120 °C of reaction temperature for 3 h. The predicted and experimental biodiesel yields under these reaction conditions were 89.42 and 89.40%, which showing less than 0.05% variation. Additionally, optimum biodiesel yield can be predicted by drawing 3D surface plots and 2D contour plots using MINITAB 17 software. For the characterization of the obtained biodiesel, analysis including the GC/MS, FT-IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR were applied. The fuel properties of obtained biodiesel agrees well with the different European Union (EU-14214), China (GB/T 20828), and American (ASTM-951, 6751) standards.

Graphical abstract, Highlights • Ultrasound reduces the protein content and particle size of chitin. • Chitosan of high deacetylation and medium molecular weight was produced. • Chitosan was successfully applied for beef preservation. • High values of luminosity, chromatid and chrome were obtained using chitosan films. • Efficient packaging was maintained even after ten days., Recently, chitin and chitosan are widely investigated for food preservation and active packaging applications. Chemical, as well as biological methods, are usually adopted for the production of these biopolymers. In this study, modification to a chemical method of chitin synthesis from shrimp shells has been proposed through the application of high-frequency ultrasound. The impact of sonication time on the deproteinization step of chitin and chitosan preparation was examined. The chemical identities of chitin and chitosan were verified using infrared spectroscopy. The influence of ultrasound on the deacetylation degree, molecular weight and particle size of the biopolymer products was analysed. The microscopic characteristics, crystallinity and the colour characteristics of the as-obtained biopolymers were investigated. Application of ultrasound for the production of biopolymers reduced the protein content as well as the particle size of chitin. Chitosan of high deacetylation degree and medium molecular weight was produced through ultrasound assistance. Finally, the as-derived chitosan was applied for beef preservation. High values of luminosity, chromatid and chrome were noted for the beef samples preserved using chitosan films, which were obtained by employing biopolymer subjected to sonication for 15, 25 and 40 min. Notably; these characteristics were maintained even after ten days of packaging. The molecular weight of these samples are 73.61 KDa, 86.82 KDa and 55.66 KDa, while the deacetylation degree are 80.60%, 92.86% and 94.03%, respectively; in the same order, the particle size of chitosan are 35.70 μm, 25.51 μm and 20.10 μm.

Heavy metal pollution remains a global environmental challenge that poses a significant threat to human life. Various methods have been explored to eliminate heavy metal pollutants from the environment. However, most methods are constrained by high expenses, processing duration, geological problems, and political issues. The immobilization of metals, phytoextraction, and biological methods have proven practical in treating metal contaminants from the soil. This review focuses on the general status of heavy metal contamination of soils, including the excessive heavy metal concentrations in crops. The assessment of the recent advanced technologies and future challenges were reviewed. Molecular and genetic mechanisms that allow microbes and plants to collect and tolerate heavy metals were elaborated. Tremendous efforts to remediate contaminated soils have generated several challenges, including the need for remediation methodologies, degrees of soil contamination, site conditions, widespread adoptions and various possibilities occurring at different stages of remediation are discussed in detail.

Effluents from pulp and paper mill typically consist of high loading of inorganics compounds (e.g., Na2CO3, Na2S, NaOH and NaCl) and organics compounds (e.g., lignin and polysaccharides fragments, alcohols, carboxylic acids) Several methods, such as biological, physical and chemical treatment, have been reported to degrade these molecules. However, coagulation is by far the cheapest, simplest and most common method employed for secondary wastewater treatment to reduce colour and organics. In this research, two most widely used methods were employed to treat a model wastewater of pulp and paper industry, namely a combination of coagulation-flocculation-UV irradiation/H2O2 and electrocoagulation (EC). In the application of coagulation-flocculation-UV irradiation/H2O2 method, the decrease in colour (measured as absorbance at 500 nm) was 71%, and the COD removal was measured to be 38% under the optimum conditions of pH 8, coagulant dose of 700 ppm, flocculant dose of 60 ppm, 130 rpm of coagulant stirring rate, 1 day irradiation time, and 25 mM of H2O2. For the EC method, 91% reduction of color and 84% reduction of COD were achieved at 40 min of electrolysis time, pH of 8, 600 ppm of NaCl concentration, electrode distance of 1.5 cm and 2 V of voltage. The EC method may serve as an efficient method for color and organics removals from pulp and paper mill wastewater.

Climate change due to increasing CO2 emissions from industries with severe environmental pollution from wastewater due to rising global population and production plants. Current approaches in treating wastewater and flue gases are expensive processes requiring high operating costs. Hence, efficient strategies to utilize flue gases and simultaneously treat wastewater is in desperate need to tackle the current situation. One of the potential solutions is to cultivate microalgae-bacteria consortium using industrial flue gas and wastewater, where the nutrients and organic matters within flue gas and wastewater are consumed for the growth of microalgae-bacteria consortium. The production of biomass from the consortium can be further transformed into sources of biofuel, valuable metabolites and animal feed. This review explores the mechanisms of CO2 mitigation and phycoremediation through microalgae-bacteria consortium along with possible future prospects.

With increasing threat of global warming to the livelihood of planet earth, reduction of carbon emission to the atmosphere is inevitable. Carbon emission reduction can be achieved through carbon capture and replacement technologies. Microalgae and ammonia (NH3) have been known to be carbon capture and carbon replacement option, respectively. This paper examines the inter-relationship between these two candidates with carbon reduction potential: microalgae and ammonia, and their future perspectives. Firstly, impact of ammonia presence in natural habitat of microalgae is identified, from the aspect of microalgal growth characteristic, photosynthetic performance, and biochemical composition. Possible solutions of ammonia removal in aquatic system include biotreatment with microalgae, nitrification–denitrification with bacteria, ion exchange using zeolites, and membrane contactor technologies. Next, with ammonia being identified as potential future energy source, conventional ammonia production, as well as bio-ammonia production are discussed. Microalgae technology used to produce syngas through pyrolysis and hydrothermal gasification (HTG) are reviewed and is identified to produce ammonia to achieve carbon emission reduction target. Finally, the challenges and impacts of bio-ammonia production using microalgae are highlighted. The main factors determining the sustainability of microalgae-based technology are energy demand, environmental impacts, and production cost, with each having challenges to varied extent. Governmental policies that drive the development in this field are also discussed. However, further research on the impact on environment and energy consumption need to be thoroughly carried out, to enable clear improvement over current usage of fossil fuel.

Microalgae have drawn significant interest worldwide, owing to their enormous application potential in the green energy, biopharmaceutical, and nutraceutical industries. Many studies have proved and stated the potential of microalgae in the area of biofuel which is economically effective and environmentally friendly. Besides the commercial value, the potential of microalgae in environmental protection has also been investigated. Microalgae-based process is one of the most effective way to treat heavy metal pollution, compared to conventional methods, it does not release any toxic waste or harmful gases, and the aquatic organism will not receive any harmful effects. The potential dual role of microalge in phytoremedation and energy production has made it widely explored for its capability. The interest of microalgae in various application has motivated a new focus in green technologies. Considering the rapid population growth with the continuous increase on the global demand and the application of biomass in diverse field, significant upgrades have been performed to accommodate green technological advancement. In the past decade, noteworthy advancement has been made on the technology involving the diverse application of microalgae biomass. This review aims to explore on the application of microalgae and the development of green technology in various application for microalgae biomass. There is great prospects for researchers in this field to delve into other potential utilization of microalgae biomass not only for bioremediation process but also to generate revenues from microalgae by incorporating clean and green technology for long-term sustainability and environmental benefits.

Industrial effluents such as pharmaceutical residues, pesticides, dyes, and metal processes holds abundant value-added products (VAPs), where its recovery has become essential. The purpose of such recovery is for sustainable treatment, which is an approach that considers the economic, social, and environmental aspects. Microalgae with its potential in the recovery process from effluents, can reduce energy usage of waste management strategies and regenerate nutrients such as carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Microalgae cultures offer the use of inorganic materials by microalgae for their growth and the help of bacteria to produce biomass, thus, resulting in the absence of secondary emissions due to its ability to eliminate volatile organic compounds. Moreover, recovered bioactive compounds are transformed into bioethanol, bio-fertilizers, biopolymer, health supplements and animal feed. Therefore, it is significant to focus on an economical and efficient utilization of microalgae in recovering nutrients that can be further used in various commercial applications.

Spirulina biomass accounts for 30% of the total algae biomass production globally. In conventional process of Spirulina biomass production, cultivation using chemical-based culture medium contributes 35% of the total production cost. Moreover, the environmental impact of cultivation stage is the highest among all the production stages which resulted from the extensive usage of chemicals and nutrients. Thus, various types of culture medium such as chemical-based, modified, and alternative culture medium with highlights on wastewater medium is reviewed on the recent advances of culture media for Spirulina cultivation. Further study is needed in modifying or exploring alternative culture media utilising waste, wastewater, or by-products from industrial processes to ensure the sustainability of environment and nutrients source for cultivation in the long term. Moreover, the current development of utilising wastewater medium only support the growth of Spirulina however it cannot eliminate the negative impacts of wastewater. In fact, the recent developments in coupling with wastewater treatment technology can eradicate the negative impacts of wastewater while supporting the growth of Spirulina. The application of Spirulina cultivation in wastewater able to resolve the global environmental pollution issues, produce value added product and even generate green electricity. This would benefit the society, business, and environment in achieving a sustainable circular bioeconomy.

Microalgae are potential sustainable renewable sources of energy but are highly underutilized due to the expensive and time-consuming downstream processing. This study aims at curbing these obstacles by extracting multiple components with a single processing unit. In this work, an ultrasound-assisted liquid triphasic flotation system was incorporated to extract proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates by phase separation. The parameters involved were optimized and the final recovery efficiency of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates was determined. A control run involving conventional three-phase partitioning and a 15-fold scale-up system with the recycling of phase components were also performed. Gas Chromatograph and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy were used to examine the potential of extracted products as a source of biofuel. This biorefinery approach is crucial in commercializing microalgae for biodiesel and bioethanol generation with a side product of purified proteins as feed.

The presence of calcium ion (Ca2+) in process streams has always been a challenge because of its impact to the heat transfer efficiency of process equipment. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber membrane was selected as the basic matrix in this study owing to its strong mechanical strength and chemical stability. Cation-exchange nanofiber membranes with different properties, namely weak ion exchanger (P−COOH), strong ion exchanger (P-SO3H) and amphoteric ion exchanger (P−COOH-BSA; coupled with bovine serum albumin) were synthesized via hydrolysis and coupling reactions. The physicochemical characteristics of these nanofiber membranes were investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and thermogravimetric analysis. Dynamic adsorption performance and breakthrough analysis of these nanofiber membranes were evaluated at different Ca2+ influent concentrations, flow rate, and configuration of membrane stacking. The maximal removal efficiency of Ca2+ (∼62 %, corresponding to dynamic binding capacity = ∼122 mg/g) was achieved by P−COOH-BSA at 500 mg/L of Ca2+ influent concentration, 2 mL/min of flow rate, and one-layer membrane configuration. Two commonly used mathematical models (Thomas and bed depth service time) were applied in the data fitting for the prediction of breakthrough curve and the determination of optimum operating parameters. The results indicate that the removal of Ca2+ by these nanofiber membranes was very effective due to the high interface mass transfer. In this work, Thomas model was found to be more suitable in elucidating the experimental result trends observed from the dynamic adsorption system.

COVID-19 has led to the enormous rise of medical wastes throughout the world, and these have mainly been generated from hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare establishments. This creates an additional challenge in medical waste management, particularly in developing countries. Improper managing of medical waste may have serious public health issues and a significant impact on the environment. There are currently three disinfection technologies, namely incineration, chemical, and physical, that are available to treat COVID-19 medical waste (CMW). This study focuses on thermochemical process, particularly the pyrolysis process to treat medical waste. Pyrolysis is a process that utilizes the instability of organic components in medical waste to convert it into valuable products. Besides, the technique is environmentally friendly, more efficient, requires less landfill capacity, causes lower pollution, and cost-effective. The current pandemic situation generates a high amount of plastic medical waste, which has components like polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and nylon (N). These plastic wastes can be converted into valuable energy products like oil, gas and char through the pyrolysis process. This study provides detailed information about CMW handling, treatments, valuable product generations (biofuels), and proper discharge into the open environment., Graphical abstract Image 1

The remarkable journey of progression of mankind has created various impacts in the form of polluted environment, amassed heavy metals and depleting resources. This alarming situation demands sustainable energy resources and approaches to deal with these environmental hazards and power deficit. Pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis address both energy and environmental issues caused by civilization and industrialization. The processes use hazardous waste materials including waste tires, plastic and medical waste, and biomass waste such as livestock waste and agricultural waste as feedstock to produce gas, char and pyrolysis oil for energy production. Usage of hazardous materials as pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis feedstock reduces disposal of harmful substances into environment, reducing occurrence of soil and water pollution, and substituting the non-renewable feedstock, fossil fuels. As compared to combustion, pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis have less emission of air pollutants and act as alternative options to landfill disposal and incineration for hazardous materials and biomass waste. Hence, stabilizing heavy metals and solving the energy and waste management problems. This review discusses the pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of biomass and harmful wastes to strive towards circular economy and eco-friendly, cleaner energy with minimum waste disposal, reducing negative impact on the planet and creating future possibilities.

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is the wastewater produced during the palm oil sterilization process, which contains substantial amounts of nutrients and phosphorous that are harmful to the environment. High BOD and COD of POME are as high as 100,000 mg/L, which endanger the environment. Effective pre-treatment of POME is required before disposal. As microalgae have the ability of biosorption on nutrients and phosphorous to perform photosynthesis, they can be utilized as a sustainable POME treatment operation, which contributes to effective biofuel production. Microalgae species C. pyrenoidosa has shown to achieve 68% lipid production along with 71% nutrient reduction in POME. In this study, a brief discussion about the impacts of POME that will affect the environment is presented. Additionally, the potential of microalgae in treating POME is evaluated along with its benefits. Furthermore, the condition of microalgae growth in the POME is also assessed to study the suitable condition for microalgae to be cultivated in. Moreover, experimental studies on characteristics and performance of microalgae are being evaluated for their feasibility. One of the profitable applications of POME treatment using microalgae is biofuel production, which will be discussed in this review. However, with the advantages brought from cultivating microalgae in POME, there are also some concerns, as microalgae will cause pollution if they are not handled well, as discussed in the last section of this paper.

Microalgae have become imperative for biological wastewater treatment. Its capability in biological purification of wastewaters from different origins while utilizing wastewater as the substrate for growth has manifest great potentials as a sustainable and economical wastewater treatment method. The wastewater grown microalgae have also been remarked in research to be a significant source of value-added bioproducts and biomaterial. This paper highlights the multifaceted roles of microalgae in wastewater treatment from the extent of microalgal bioremediation function to environmental amelioration with the involvement of microalgal biomass productivity and carbon dioxide fixation. Besides, the uptake mechanism of microalgae in wastewater treatment was discussed in detail with illustrations for a comprehensive understanding of the removal process of undesirable substances. The performance of different microalgae species in the uptake of various substances was studied and summarized in this review. The correlation of microalgal treatment efficacy with various algal strain types and the bioreactors harnessed for cultivation systems was also discussed. Studies on the alternatives to conventional wastewater treatment processes and the integration of microalgae with accordant wastewater treatment methods are presented. Current research on the biological and technical approaches for the modification of algae-based wastewater system and the maximization of biomass production is also reviewed and discussed. The last portion of the review is dedicated to the assertion of challenges and future perspectives on the development of microalgae-based wastewater treatment technology. This review serves as a useful and informative reference for readers regarding the multifaceted roles of microalgae in the application of wastewater biotreatment with detailed discussion on the uptake mechanism.

The purpose of this study was to investigate influences of temperature on the conversion of ammonium tungstate pentahydrate (ATP) powder to tungsten trioxide (WO3) particles with controllable sizes, crystallinities, and physicochemical properties. In this study, we used a simple thermal decomposition method. In the experimental procedure, we explored the effect of temperature on the physicochemical properties of ATP by testing various heating temperatures (from 100 to 900 °C). The heated ATP samples were then characterized by a physical observation (i.e. color) and various analysis methods (i.e. a thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy, an X-ray diffraction, and a scanning electron microscope). Experimental results showed that increases in temperature had an impact to the decreases in particle size, the change in material crystallinity, and the change in physical properties (e.g. change of color from white, orange, to yellowish green). The relationships between the reaction temperatures and the physicochemical properties of the ATP were also investigated in detail along with the theoretical consideration and the proposal of the WO3 particle formation mechanism. In simplification, the phenomena can be described into three zones of temperatures. (1) Below 250 °C (release of water molecules and some ammonium ions).; (2) At 250-400 °C (release of water molecules and ammonium ions, restructurization of tungsten and oxygen elements, and formation of amorphous tungsten trioxide). (3) At higher than 400 °C (crystallization of tungsten trioxide). Since ATP possessed reactivity on temperature, its physicochemical properties changing could be observed easily, and the experimental procedure could be done easily. The present study will benefit not only for “chemistry and material science” but also potentially to be used as a model material for explaining the thermal behavior of material to undergraduate students (suitable used for a class and laboratory experiment and demonstration).

Phycocyanin (PC) is the main pigment found in Spirulina platensis and has the potential effect to treat effectively type-2 diabetes mellitus by inhibiting α-amylase and α-glucosidase. However, studies on molecular interactions between PC with α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes are still rare. In this study, an in-silico study was carried out to predict the molecular interactions between PC with α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes. Molecular docking simulations indicated that PC inhibits the enzymes by binding to the active site and causing a disruption on substrate-enzyme binding. In both enzymes, PC seem to play a crucial role in establishing the interaction within the cavity of active sites. This result suggested PC as a potential candidate for antidiabetic natural therapeutic agents. An in-vitro inhibition activity test showed that PC inhibits human salivary amylase at average of 51.13 %. A storage stability tests showed that keeping PC in solid-state, absence of lights and low temperature can preserve the bioactivity when used as functional compounds. Taken together, this current result would be useful in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of the interaction between PC and carbohydrate-metabolisms enzymes and contribute to making full use of PC as antidiabetic drug or therapeutic agent. Further confirm on diabetic subjects is indispensable to provide the potential therapeutic of PC as an effective anti-diabetic with less frequent of side effect.

Pretreatment of microalgal biomass possessing rigid cell wall is a critical step for enhancing the efficiency of microalgal biorefinery. However, the conventional pretreatment processes suffer the drawbacks of complex processing steps, long processing time, low conversion efficiency and high processing costs. This significantly hinders the industrial applicability of microalgal biorefinery. The innovative electricity-aid pretreatment techniques serve as a promising processing tool to extensively enhance the release of intracellular substances from microalgae. In this review, application of electric field-based techniques and recent advances of using electrical pretreatments on microalgae cell focusing on pulsed electric field, electrolysis, high voltage electrical discharges and moderate electric field are reviewed. In addition, the emerging techniques integrating electrolysis with liquid biphasic flotation process as promising downstream approach is discussed. This review delivers broad knowledge of the present significance of the application of these methods focusing on the development of electric assisted biomolecules extraction from microalgae.