The Effect Of Surfactants In Greywater On Microalgal Growth and Lipid Accumulation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37287/ijghr.v8i5.2153Keywords:
biomass productivity, greywater, lipid accumulation, microalgae, surfactantsAbstract
The rising consumption of domestic water has largely resulted in urban wastewater pollution by generating an excessive amount of greywater containing surfactants derived from household detergents and personal care products. These surfactants typically lower the performance of conventional wastewater treatment systems. This systematic literature review (SLR) examines 27 peer-reviewed papers published in the period 2020-2025 which study the impact of surfactants in greywater on microalgal growth, biomass productivity, and lipid accumulation. The results show that the response depends on the concentration of surfactants. At low concentrations (≤5–8 mg/L), surfactants can promote microalgal growth and lipid accumulation possibly due to mild stress–induced metabolic activation and partial biodegradation of surfactants. However, moderate to high levels (>15–20 mg/L) cause inhibition of growth, reduction of photosynthetic efficiency, membrane destabilization, and oxidative stress. Moreover, the interaction with moderate levels of C16:0, C18:1, and C18:2 fatty acids helps in stabilizing the membranes. Generally, this review makes it clear that the concentration of surfactants is a decisive element for the effective use of microalgae in greywater treatment and biofuel production, pointing out the necessity for controlling surfactant levels to prevent toxicity.
References
Shoushtarian & Negahban-Azar. 2020. Worldwide regulations and guidelines for agricultural water reuse: a critical review. Water 12(4):971.
Nikonova et al. 2023. Toxic effect of anionic surfactants on freshwater sponge Lubomirskia baikalensis and endosymbiotic microalgae Chlorella sp. Diversity 15(1):77.
Sánchez et al. 2022. Constructed wetlands and photodegradation for emerging contaminant removal: a review. Environments 9(9):116.
Price et al. 2022. Influence of hardness and pH on zinc toxicity to Chlorella sp. Environ. Sci. Process. Impacts 24:783–793.
Hodge. 2020. Surfactant Contamination Alters Freshwater Phytoplankton Community Composition. Georgia Southern Univ.
Lugo et al. 2020. Remediation of aquaculture wastewater using Chlorella sorokiniana. Water 12:3144.
He et al. 2020. Phytotoxicity and degradation of nonylphenol in microalgae. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 21:1338.
Wang et al. 2024. Treatment of surfactant-containing wastewater using algal–bacterial sludge. Water 16:1717.
Lu et al. 2023. Toxicity mechanism of triclosan in Euglena gracilis. Toxics 11:414.
Arshad et al. 2025. Microbial bioproducts: advances and applications. J. Umm Al-Qura Univ. Appl. Sci. 11:545–560.
He et al. 2021. Metabolic responses of Euglena gracilis to environmental stresses. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 9:662655.
Mercado et al. 2023. Metal toxicity in Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Artemia salina, and Aurelia aurita. Toxics 11:716.
Rodríguez-Hernández et al. 2022. Endocrine disrupting contaminants in wastewater treatment plants: detection and mitigation. Environ. Sci. Adv. 1:680–704.
Baldisserotto et al. 2023. Chlorella-based phytoremediation for urban wastewater treatment. Plants 12:1027.
Cisneros-León et al. 2023. Electrochemical degradation of surfactants in domestic wastewater. Front. Chem. 11:900670.
Pandey & Gupta. 2022. Effectiveness of algae in wastewater treatment systems. Int. J. Res. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol. 10(8):520–526.
Khan et al. 2021. Diatom microalgae for biosensing wastewater pollutants. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 12:9531–9549.
Cruz de Carvalho et al. 2022. Ecotoxicological effects of SDS in marine primary producers. Toxics 10:780.
Congestri et al. 2020. Microbial consortium for nutrient removal in dishwasher wastewater. Water Sci. Technol. 82(6):1142–1154.
Onyancha et al. 2022. Cultivation of Desmodesmus multivariabilis for cosmetic wastewater treatment. Sustainability 14(23):15665.
Devda et al. 2021. Resource recovery from industrial wastewater using electrochemical technologies. Bioengineered 12(1):4697–4718.
Wen et al. 2021. Control of zooplanktonic predators in Chlorella culture using surfactants. Biotechnol. Biofuels Bioproducts 14:21.
Chandran et al. 2023. Biological treatment solutions for industrial wastewater contaminants. J. Umm Al-Qura Univ. Appl. Sci. 11:185–207.
Ng et al. 2022. Slaughterhouse wastewater characterization and treatment techniques: a review. Processes 10:1300.
Baldisserotto et al. 2022. Chlorophyta microalgae as dietary protein supplements. J. Appl. Phycol. 34:1323–1340.
Ripanda et al. 2022. Contaminants of emerging concern in Sub-Saharan Africa. Appl. Sci. 12:56.
Canova et al. 2021. Sensitivity of freshwater and marine microalgae to sulfonamides, thiazoles, and triazoles. Appl. Sci. 11:7800.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Indonesian Journal of Global Health Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
