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Extensive investigation and beyond the removal of micro-polyvinyl chloride by microalgae to promote environmental health
Summary
Researchers found that Chlorella sp. microalgae can effectively remove micro-polyvinyl chloride particles from water, though PVC exposure at high concentrations triggered oxidative stress responses, suggesting algae-based remediation as a promising strategy for microplastic pollution.
Microplastics (MPs) remediation via algae could be a prospective strategy to address MPs pollution concerns. In this study, Chlorella sp. GEEL-08 was exposed to different gradient concentrations ranging from 0 to 200 mg L of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Microalgal growth, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and cations (Cu, Zn, Na, and K) removal were investigated. The oxidative stress enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malonaldehyde (MDA) were also assessed. The addition of 50 mg L mPVC resulted in the highest growth along with >99% removal of nutrients (TN and TP) and >80% removal of cations. However, the addition of 100-200 mg L mPVC inhibited microalgal growth by 8.8-12.3%. The stress-induced by mPVC was highly observed at 200 mg L mPVC on the 4th d with 70.8 U mg and 62.3 nmol mg of SOD and MDA, respectively. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra confirmed that microalgal biomass retained mPVC. Thermogravimetric analysis/derivative thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG) spectra showed that the organic matter of microalgal biomass attached with mPVC was decomposed faster than control, indicating the possibilities of using this biomass for pyrolysis and the formation of bio-products.