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Different interaction performance between microplastics and microalgae: The bio-elimination potential of Chlorella sp. L38 and Phaeodactylum tricornutum MASCC-0025
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Researchers investigated how two species of microalgae, Chlorella and Phaeodactylum tricornutum, interact with common microplastic types including polypropylene, polyethylene, PET, and PVC. The study found that these microalgae have different capacities to interact with and potentially help remove microplastics, suggesting a possible green and cost-effective approach to microplastic bio-elimination from contaminated waters.
Microplastics have recently been identified as an important emerging global problem which affects marine organisms and even humans. As a green and cost-effective environmental purification alternative, microalgae have attracted more and more attention. In this work, the interaction between microplastics (PP, PE, PET and PVC) and microalgae (Chlorella sp. L38 and Phaeodactylum tricornutum MASCC-0025) has been investigated. In addition, SEM and TEM characterization were also carried out to observe interactions between microplastics and microalgae. Experimental results indicated that there was an obvious inhibition effect of microplastics on Phaeodactylum tricornutum MASCC-0025 growth with inhibition ratio up to 21.1%. By contrast, Chlorella sp. L38 presented strong adaptive capacity to microplastics. The key active enzymes concentration variation and characterization (SEM and TEM) images also verified the toxic effect of tested microplastics on Chlorella sp. L38 and Phaeodactylum tricornutum MASCC-0025. The toxic effect might be explained by the possible leaching of additives of four tested microplastics. It could also be observed that microalgae have a potential to be used as an alternative bio-solution for microplastics treatment.
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