Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589

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Chemosphere
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere

Impact of light on microalgal photosynthetic microbial fuel cells and

removal of pollutants by nanoadsorbent biopolymers: Updates, challenges
and innovations
Mohd Jahir Khan a, 1, Nikhil Singh a, 1, Sudhanshu Mishra a, 1, Ankesh Ahirwar a, 1, Felix Bast b,
Sunita Varjani c, **, Benoit Schoefs d, Justine Marchand d, Karthik Rajendran e, J. Rajesh Banu f,
Ganesh Dattatraya Saratale g, Rijuta Ganesh Saratale h, Vandana Vinayak a, *
a
Diatom Nanoengineering and Metabolism Laboratory (DNM), School of Applied Science, Dr. HarisinghGour Central University, Sagar, MP, 470003, India
b
Department of Botany, Central University of Punjab, Ghudda-VPO, Bathinda, 151401, Punjab, 151001, India
c
Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 382010, India
d
Metabolism, Bioengineering of Microalgal Metabolism and Applications (MIMMA), Mer Molecules Santé, Le Mans University, IUML - FR 3473 CNRS, Le Mans, France
e
Department of Environmental Science, SRM University-AP, Neerukonda, Andhra Pradesh, India
f
Department of Life Science, Central University of Tamilnadu, Thiruvar, 610005, India
g
Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Dongguk University-Seoul, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggido, 10326, Republic of Korea
h
Research Institute of Biotechnology and Medical Converged Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggido, 10326, Republic of Korea

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• High light intensities increase the effi­

ciency of Photosynthetic microbial fuel
cells (PMFC).
• High efficiency of PMFC results in in­
crease in biomass and cleaning of
wastewater.
• Biomass rich in biopolymers acts as
nanoabsorbents to remove pollutants
from wastewater.
• PMFC is economical way of producing
bioelectricity and other value-added
products.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling editor. Derek Muir Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) with microalgae have huge potential for treating wastewater while
simultaneously converting light energy into electrical energy. The efficiency of such cells directly depends on
algal growth, which depends on light intensity. Higher light intensity results in increased potential as well as
Keywords: enhancement in generation of biomass rich in biopolymers. Such biopolymers are produced either by microbes at
Biopolymer
anode and algae at cathode or vice versa. The biopolymers recovered from these biological sources can be added
Light
Microalgae
in wastewater alone or in combination with nanomaterials to act as nanoadsorbents. These nanoadsorbents
Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells further increase the efficiency of PMFC by removing the pollutants like metals and dyes. In this review firstly the

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: drsvs18@gmail.com (S. Varjani), kapilvinayak@gmail.com (V. Vinayak).
1
Authors contributed equally.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132589
Received 9 June 2021; Received in revised form 9 September 2021; Accepted 14 October 2021
Available online 19 October 2021
0045-6535/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M.J. Khan et al.
Power density effect of different light intensities on the growth of microalgae, importance of diatoms in a PMFC and their
Pollutants impact on PMFCs efficiencies have been narrated. Secondly recovery of biopolymers from different biological
sources and their role in removal of metals, dyes along with their impact on circular bioeconomy have been
discussed. Thereafter bottlenecks and future perspectives in this field of research have been narrated.
1. Introduction
Wastewaters are one of the emerging menaces with growing indus­
trialization and populations in every part of the globe (Anwar et al.,
2021; Rathi et al., 2021). These wastewater rich in pollutants are unsafe
when they blend in clean water of rivers, oceans and lakes. This can be
hazardous to aquatic as well as human life via ecological life cycle
(Alvarado et al., 2021). Thus it is very necessary to phycoremediate the
wastewater pollutants (Bui et al., 2019; Bose et al., 2021; Kumar et al.,
2021b; Sridharan et al., 2021). There are various technologies to recycle
the wastewater like chemical treatment, UV treatments, photolysis,
activated carbon, metal oxides and even pervoskites (Cai et al., 2018;
Zhu et al., 2020). However, microbial fuel cells are the most efficient and
sensitive ones (Cheng et al., 2020).
On the offset, microbial fuel cells owing to constant requirement of
oxygen have not boosted the upscaling productivity (Do et al., 2020).
Addition of live microalgae generally at cathode in a MFC also known as
photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (PMFC) has emerged out as more
promising with regard to efficiency and cost of MFC (Logroño et al.,
2017; Vinayak et al., 2021). They like conventional microbial fuel cells
produce bioelectricity whereas the oxygen released by them fulfills the
requirement of chemical mediators which are more efficient in removing
the pollutants from wastewater (Li et al., 2021). It is seen that high light
results in high amount of biomass, value added products (Ahirwar et al.,
2021), along with high efficiency of MFC from microalgae (Li et al.,
2017a). High light stimulates photosynthesis for manufacture of more
cell growth and hence its accompanied biomass. To achieve this, choice
of microalgae is very important and of many microalgae used till date,
diatoms are most efficient (Khan et al., 2021b). They fix about 25%
atmospheric CO2 and are accountable for 30% of the global crude oil
(Ramachandra et al., 2009). Besides this they are affluent in various high
and low value metabolites of importance (Vinayak et al., 2015; Nagar­
ajan et al., 2021). Furthermore, efficiency of MFC is further increased if
target pollutants are specifically removed. Since the major pollutants
present in wastewater include pesticides, herbicides, drugs especially
antibodies, analgesics, β drugs etc. and dyes rich in metals as well as
micro and nanoparticles (Varjani et al., 2020a; Chen et al., 2021; Pandey
et al., 2021b). Among these major problem lies in metal pollutants like
arsenic, lead mercury and cadmium since they are not degraded (Renu
et al., 2021; Yan et al., 2021). They are discharged or transported in the
environment causing unpredictable changes in the environment (Bhar­
athiraja et al., 2019; Varjani et al., 2020b, 2021a).
There have been many techniques for remediation of these metal ion
like polymer filtration which opted poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (poly-
NIPAM) for insitu extraction of heavy metals from soil or wastewater
(Heskins 1968; Galaev et al., 1999; (Neha et al., 2021; Paria et al., 2021;
Wang et al., 2021). Conversely artificial biopolymers genetically and
protein engineered using molecular biology tools have emerged out as
promising adsorbents at nanoscale to adsorb nanoparticles and micro­
particles especially metals (Cheng et al., 2021; Duraj-Thatte et al.,
2021). On the other hand, the artificial polymers have high cost and are
economically not sustainable for large scale remediation of wastewater
pollutants (El-Sheekh et al., 2021). Therefore biopolymers recovered
from microalgae are not only economically viable but also robust way to
treat wastewater pollutants (Kumar et al., 2021c; Kwok et al., 2021;
Silambarasan et al., 2021).
One of the most common biopolymers is polyhydroxyalkonates
(PHA) (Kumar et al., 2021a). Most of the commonly occurring PHA’s are
heterotrophs and need constant feeding thus making the cost of PHA’s
2
Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589
very high (Sindhu et al., 2020). Notably photosynthetic bacteria and
microalgae produce PHA’s at narrow cost and accompanied with
simultaneous production of bioelectricity in a photosynthetic microbial
fuel cell (Kartik et al., 2021). They are one such group of bioplastics
which are environmental friendly as they are biodegradable, don’t leach
harmful chemicals and acts as adsorbents for various metal pollutants
(Jamil and Ahmed, 2008; Bilal and Iqbal, 2018; Kwok et al., 2021).
Photosynthetic microorganisms produce these biopolymers by using
sun’s energy, CO2 and act as miniature microbial factories for recovery
of PHA’s and other valuable resources. Many studies have shown the
production of PHA’s by purple bacteria as well as cyanobacteria (Lie­
bergesell et al., 1991; Abed et al., 2009; Fradinho et al., 2021). There are
bioengineered microbes like heterotrophic Pseudomonas putida, Cupria­
vidus necator H16, Escherichia coli and Azohydromona slata, which are the
main bootstrapper for large scale PHA production (Argiz et al., 2020;
Fradinho et al., 2021). However, these heterotrophic bacteria require
carbon, external carbon supplies for PHA production and also their
growth. On the offset purple phototrophic bacteria like Rhodovulum
sulfidophilum well known for PHA production can be metabolically
engineered for PHA production (Banu et al., 2019). R. sulfidophilun is a
marine anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria that produces PHA or bio­
plastics by utilizing marine sea water as its media. The molecular
biology studies have shown that R. sulfidophilun has immense properties
to produce spidroins which are natures tough and strong materials
produced by spiders popularly known as spider silk. It has high demand
in the biomaterial as well in the nanotechnology industry (Foong et al.,
2020a). On the offset the high cost prohibits its use in many applications.
The expression of gene sequences in the bacteria R. sulfidophilun has
reduced the cost of spidrion to 70% and could be used in biomaterial as
well in the environmental cleaning as adsorbents (Foong et al., 2020a).
The present review discusses about the photosynthetic microbial fuel
cells, the photosynthetic microbes which includes bacteria as well as
algae and their capability to produce biopolymers, the effect of nutrient
(s) as well as light stress on the microalgae for functioning of PMFC. The
lights of different wavelength and intensities especially light emitting
diodes (LED) and their role in growth of microalgae in a PMFC are
discussed. Since light stress has varying effect on microalgae it is one of
the very important factors to influence the efficiency of PMFC. Besides
this the types of biopolymers produced and added in a PMFC along with
the metal pollutants recovered by them are discussed in depth. The re­
view also highlights the impact on circular bioeconomy and future
perspectives taking diatoms as microalgae of choice in the PMFC for
biopolymers and other value-added products.
2. Photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC)
Since basic principle of any Microbial fuel cells (MFC) is redox re­
action being carried out by bacteria. It offers various opportunities for
wastewater treatment in terms of environmental protection, energy and
treating wastewater and recovery of valuable metals (Logan et al., 2006;
Mishra et al., 2020; Shah et al., 2021). Numerous waste may be used as
feedstock for the MFCs during which the exo-electrogenic microor­
ganism turn out electrons under anaerobic conditions (Schröder, 2018).
Still the basic limitations of MFC’s remain the same like it requires a
constant furnishing of oxygen in the cathode cell so biocatalyst is
required for increased oxygen production. This problem can be solved
by using O2 producing microorganisms i.e. microalga (He et al., 2007;
Elshobary et al., 2021). However, if microalgae are used in the MFC at
cathode or anode there is no need to supply external agents or
M.J. Khan et al.
biocatalyst to enhance O2 production since they produce the same via
photosynthesis (Faaij, 2006; Logan and Regan, 2006). Thus, microalgae
would not only generate bioelectricity utilizing CO2 for photosynthesis
but also produce free oxygen and valuable byproducts such as carot­
enoids and biofuel (McCarty et al., 2011; Heydarizadeh et al., 2013;
Zhang et al., 2016).
During last decade, researchers used cyanobacterial species as bio­
catalysts for eg. Anabaena and Synechocystis with 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphto­
quinone (HNQ) (Indrama et al., 2019). This acts as artificial redox
mediator to commute electrons from the microbes towards anode
(Rosenbaum et al., 2010). It was observed that power generation
enhanced throughout the dark period when intracellular carbon stor­
ages (glycogen) get oxidized and electrons recuperate with bio­
electrochemical systems (BESs) (Elshobary et al., 2021). This was
followed with constriction in oxygen supply and power during those
light phases when the carbon storages at intracellular regions were
replenished (Fischer, 2018).
Thus unlike the conventional MFC’s, PMFC’s employ photosynthetic
bacteria or microalgae generally at the cathode with light being the
essential source for it to run efficiently (Rosenbaum et al., 2010; Hwang
et al., 2021; Li et al., 2021). Powell in 2009 (Powell and Hill, 2009)
made a MFC with Saccharomyces cervisae at anode and Chlorella vulgaris
microalgae at cathode generated a power density of 2.7 mWm− 2. The
microalgae at cathode acts as electron acceptor thereby reducing the
mediator at its oxidized state present at cathode. The mediator enters the
cell wall becomes oxidized and releases the electron thereby generating
the electron. Henceforth the cells accept the electron which enters the
metabolic pathway thus converting CO2 to oxygen and resulting biomass
rich in biopolymers.
Furthermore, microalgae can act as electron acceptor as well as
donor either at the anode or at the cathode. To be at anode it needs to be
electrogenic, eg. Chlorella pyrenoidosa was used at anode in place of
bacteria produced bioelectricity (Cai et al., 2016). The electrogenic
character of algae is primarily due to NADPH oxidase (NOX) which
converts O2 present extracellularly to superoxide ions which accepts
electron from the NADPH from the cells metabolic machinery (Laoha­
visit et al., 2015).
Even though activators are required at anode end, however cathode
requires light as one of the essential components for microalgae at the
cathode. Also, the CO2 produced at the anode end is utilized by the algae
at cathode for photosynthesis thus converting it into essential food and
biomass thereby maintaining the CO2 reflux. Hence the most admired
phototrophic microorganisms of merchant interest are cyanobacteria
(better known as blue-green algae) and microalgae. Since their growth
needs light energy and an inorganic carbon origin (usually CO2) (Gon­
zalez-Esquer et al., 2015). On the offset, diatoms are one of the most
emerging microalgae of interest in algal photosynthetic microbial fuel
cells to be used at cathode (Commault et al., 2014; Khan et al., 2021b;
Vinayak et al., 2021). However, their electrogenic properties need to be
tested so as to use them at anode too.
In both bacteria based MFC and algae based PMFC, electron trans­
portation is extracellular to the cathode and proton is exchanged via the
plasma exchange membrane (Semenec et al., 2017; Prathiba et al.,
2021). However, PMFC operate without requiring externally added
substrates whereas MFC operates in the presence of added substrates to
be decomposed or degraded by microbes to produce bioelectricity
(Semenec et al., 2017). Besides bioelectricity generation another
advantage of PMFC is that it removes carbon dioxide from the atmo­
sphere. PMFC is a confident apparatus in biotechnology plan for the
creation of power in great manner (Elshobary et al., 2021).
Even though plants can be equally used in a PMFC since all photo­
synthetic organism utilize solar radiation at 400–700 nm wavelength
range (Chukwujindu, 2018). However, the mean efficiency of photo­
synthesis for land plants is around 5%, and, that for microalgae is 9% of
total solar radiations utilized, they are efficient if used in a MFC (Zhu
et al., 2008; Elshobary et al., 2021). Hence microalgae in a PMFC are
3
Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589
better choice in a living form and also advantageous as they besides
producing bioelectricity, they also synthesize value added metabolites.
They also produce methane and hydrogen (He et al., 2007; Li and Fang,
2007; Khudzari et al., 2019; Enamala et al., 2020; Sudheer et al., 2020).
However, the electricity produced in PMFC is dependent on the source
and intensity of light being utilized by living algae (Abazarian et al.,
2020; Xu et al., 2021). The effect of light/dark cycles on sediment mi­
crobial fuel cell using Chlorella sp. At catholyte showed that light: dark
of 12:12 h produced maximum power density of 19.6 mWm− 2 and an
open circuit voltage of 442.3 mV (Abazarian et al., 2020).
3. Light therapy and its effect on PMFC
3.1. Outcome of light intensity on microalgae growth in a PMFC
Since light is important factor to control photosynthesis high as well
as low light can alter the logarithm of algal growth. Illumination of light
affected the overall potential in a PMFC in Desmodesmus sp. (strain A8) at
cathode as shown by Wu et al., (2014) (Wu et al., 2014) (Fig. 1A–B). It
was demonstrated that biocathode showed decrease in its performance
during dark from 368.9 to 526.8 mV resulting into decrease in its voltage
from 185.7 to 54.7 mV. Simultaneously anode also showed decrement in
its potential by 26.9 mV. Further on illumination to light there was in­
crease in the maximum power density from 11.3 to 64.2mWm2 as shown
in Fig. 1A–B. Such light dependence performance of PMFC have been
observed for cyanobacteria as well as in other microalgae (Xiao et al.,
2012). In yet another work by (Bazdar et al., 2018), it has been shown
that efficiency of PMFC with Chlorella vulgaris showed production of
biomass, bioelectricity with simultaneous treatment of wastewater. The
performance of PMFC at different light intensities 3500, 5000, 7000 and
10,000lx at photoperiod of 24/00, 12/12, 16/8 h was observed and it
was found that at high light intensity of 10,000lx, maximum biomass
was produced (0.44 g l− 1 day− 1) (Fig. 1C–D). This led to maximum
power density of 126 mWm− 3 with COD removal 5.47% and maximum
columbic efficiency of 78%. On the offset, the performance PMFC with
air cathode MFC was 13% higher than the PMFC with abiotic cathode.
Besides generating bioelectricity and cleaning the wastewater the
biomass from microalgae is superabundant source of high value prod­
ucts potentially used in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and nutra­
ceuticals industries (Nguyen et al., 2021). Additionally they produce
crude oils and biofuels (Vinayak et al., 2014; Khan et al., 2021a). It has
been shown in studies that the growth of microalgae and production of
value-added products by microalgae is affected by different intensities
and ranges of light. Light is one of the major factors to determine
biomass productivity and its applications for value-added products by
microalgae (Fig. 2).
Growth of microalgae has been tested in photobioreactors (PBR)
using different light therapies. Khoeyi et al. (Amini Khoeyi et al., 2012)
reported that light intensity and duration remarkably effect the algal
biomass production which was maximum when algal culture exposed to
62.5 μmol photons m− 1s− 1 for a photoperiod of 16:8 h light/dark
duration (Amini Khoeyi et al., 2012). Beside light intensities duration of
light also effected the growth of algae. Jacob-Iopes et al. (Jacob-Lopes
et al., 2009) showed the effect of light duration on microalgal growth
and demonstrated that the increment of biomass production is parallel
to increasing the light period duration. Kitaya et al. (2005) grew Euglena
gracilis in six intensities of photosynthetic photon flux ranges from 20 to
200 μmol m− 2s− 1 along with different parameters (temperature, O2 and
CO2 concentrations). The result revealed that the highest rate of cell
multiplication of microalgal occurred at light flux of about 100 μmol
m− 2s− 1 (Kitaya et al., 2005).
Chlorella sp. and Nannochloropsissp were cultured by Cheirsilp et al.
(Cheirsilp and Torpee, 2012) in different light intensities. They found
that the growth of both Chlorella sp. and Nannochloropsissp increased
with increasing light intensities from 2000 to 8000 lx. After 800 lx,
growth of Chlorella sp. starts decreasing while decline in growth of
M.J. Khan et al. Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589

Fig. 1. Effect of light A: power output; B: electrode potential as a function of light and dark, Reproduced with permissions from (Wu et al., 2014) and effect of
different light intensities on C: polarization and power density; D: biomass concentration of microalgae under continuous light regime, Reproduced with permissions
from (Bazdar et al., 2018).

Fig. 2. Schematics relating light source and value-added products obtained from algae.

4
M.J. Khan et al.
Nannochloropsis sp starts after 1000 lx light intensity. Chen et al. (2011)
cultivated Chlorella sp. in draft-tube photobioreactor in different light
intensities of 82 lmol/m2s, 260 μmol/m2s, 368 μmol/m2s, and 590
μmol/m2s. The microalgae growth in terms maximum biomass dry
weight was reported at 82 μmol/m2s and increased with increasing light
intensities. The maximum biomass dry weight reached a maximum at
590 μmol/m2s. In yet another case where an open transparent rectan­
gular chamber photobioreactor was developed and used for cultivation
of microalgae. The biomass produced was 56% higher than the normal
reactor without transparent rectangular chamber because of light is
effectively utilized by this design thus growth of microalgae increased
significantly (Hsieh and Wu, 2009). Apart from these microalgae diatom
has a future in upcoming efficient PMFC’s since their production of
value added metabolites controlled by light has yielded significant re­
sults (Jayakumar et al., 2021). The oil and biodiesel yield in Amphiphora
sp. were 52.94 ± 0.42% and 81.47 ± 1.59% respectively at 24 μmol m− 2
s− 1 of light intensity compared to lesser yields in Amphora sp. and
Pleurosigma sp.
3.2. Effect of different wavelengths of lights on microalgae growth in a
PMFC
Normally, microalgae make use of light of wavelength from 400 to
700 nm for photosynthesis which varies in the different species. This is
due to the fact that photosynthetic pigments in microalgae are different
and they thus absorb light differentially at various wavelengths (Rich­
mond, 2004). Kim et al. (2013)showed the effect of white, blue and red
LED lights individually and mixed LED lights on the growth and
CO2fixation of microalgae. They reported higher microalgae production
rate in white light (400–700 nm) as compared to growth rate in indi­
vidual red or blue lights. Further studies showed that the effects of
mixing wavelengths in different ratio and their effect on microalgae
growth. It was revealed that a mixture of red light and blue light gave
higher microalgae density (almost 50%) than using monochromatic
wavelength of light, disregarding the mixing ratio (Kim et al., 2013).
Outcome of different wavelength of light on the production of biomass
and lipid content was also studied in Nannochloropsis sp., grown in
phototrophic as well as mixotrophic culture conditions (Das et al.,
2011). Studies showed that maximum specific growth rate was reported
in blue LED light followed by white and then in green and least growth in
red LED light (Das et al., 2011). It was observed that the absolute fatty
acid content did not differ much compared to the intracellular fatty acid
compositions on cultures irradiated with different wavelengths of light.
The maximum fatty acid methyl ester yield in Nannochloropsis sp.
occurred for cultures irradiated to green LED light at almost 550 nm (Das
et al., 2011). It has already been documented that the absorption range
of chlorophyll ‘a’ is 450–475 nm while chlorophyll ‘b’ in 630–675 nm.
Therefore the photosynthetic efficiency of Scenedesmus sp. enhanced
selectively and simultaneously on irradiating red as well as blue light
necessary for photosynthesis (Ruyters, 1984).
On the other hand the performance of PMFCs using Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii transformation F5 grown under different monochromatic
lights (red and blue LEDs) was studied by Lan et al. in (Lan et al., 2013).
They applied monochromatic blue and red LEDs with light intensities of
100, 300, 600 and 900 lx. They reported that the with the increasing
monochromatic blue and red LED light intensities the maximum power
density of PMFC increased. The maximum power density was found
higher on irradiation to red LED light as in contrast to blue LED light.
The reported maximum power density was 4.741 mWm− 2 with blue LED
light at 900 lx, while with red LED light at same intensity maximum
power density was 12.947 mWm− 2. Thus, maximum power density
produced by MFC in red light was almost 61% higher than with blue LED
light at same intensities. The explanation for high maximum power
density in red LED light is because of fewer obstacles in the movement of
electrons from the cell through the electrolyte to the electrode in red
LED light. However, low power density of PMFC on irradiation to blue
5
Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589
LED light was due to the fact that chlorophyll pigments of C. reinhardtii
transformation F5 have poor absorption range in blue light thus a
fraction of its energy is lost when shifted from carotenoids to chlorophyll
pigments (Lan et al., 2013). In yet another PMFC Chlorella vulgaris was
used for the generation of bioelectricity and value added pigments under
the influence of different wavelength of lights (Gouveia et al., 2014). In
yet another study when algal cells were added in cathode equipped with
different florescent lights and bacterial consortium kept at the anode it
was seen that the output power voltage increased with higher light in­
tensity as the power output at steady state was 10 mW m− 2 for 4 day at
26μE/(m2s). Thereafter it got decreased due to depletion of substrates in
the medium (Gouveia et al., 2014). The value-added products like the
pigment content increased to 0.6% w/w at 26 μE/(m2s) in higher light
intensity (96 μE/(m2s). These data showed that the production of both
energy and value added products increased when light intensity is
higher in cathode chamber of PMFC (Gouveia et al., 2014). Many earlier
reported studies have shown that the enhancement of bioelectricity and
microalgal biomass production when algae were grown under defined
intensity and wavelength of light. Thus production of bioelectrical
power in PMFC and biomass/value added products is straightway
affected by light intensity conditions of the microalgal culture (Zou
et al., 2009; Strik et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2011; Pandit et al., 2012;
Xiao et al., 2012).
4. Removal of pollutants (metals and dyes) by biopolymers
Biopolymers are biobased materials obtained from microorganisms
and are cheap biodegradable components. They are important re­
placements for the petroleum-based plastics because of biodegrad­
ability, biocompatibility and environment friendly manufacturing. The
natural and synthetic polymers have numerous industrial and biomed­
ical applications (Birajdar et al., 2021). The renewable substrate used in
MFC operation is biomass which comprises of polysaccharide bio­
polymers such as starch, cellulose, chitosan etc. These polymers are
energetic content and can be hydrolyzed. Although, MFC is clean
bioelectricity production and wastewater treatment technology, it pro­
duces less power density which restricts the practical use of MFCs. There
are abundant factors which determine the efficiency of MFCs but the
materials used in anode preparations play a vibrant role in improving
the output of power density. Numerous anode materials are used in MFC
to enhance power efficiency such as carbon materials, conductive
polymers and composites etc. using different substrates, microbes and
inoculum to produce polymers at anode in a MFC as shown in Table 1.
Yet the polymers are used in MFC, for eg. chitosan-nitrogen coated
carbon nanotubes-polyaniline (CNCNP) as anode materials gave
maximum power density of 4.2 W m− 3 compared to 1.4 W m− 3
maximum power density with anode material made up of nitrogen
doped carbon nanotubes (Xu et al., 2019). In another study Gurav et al.
(2019a) used chitin as a substrate for bacterium Bacillus circulans BBL03
to produce electrical energy in MFC. The output power density was re­
ported 1.742 mWcm2 with 1% chitin as a substrate (Gurav et al., 2019a).
In MFC, Gluconobacter oxydans VKM-1280 bacterial cells was immobi­
lized on graphite electrode with the help of chitosan, poly (vinyl
alcohol) (Plekhanova et al., 2018). This chitosan based MFC produced
maximum power characteristics of 8.3 μWcm− 2. The power density was
further increased (10.6 μWcm− 2) when multi walled carbon nanotube
was used as anode as it decreased internal resistance of the MFC (Ple­
khanova et al., 2018). Besides in cathode different polymers are also
used in proton exchange membrane. The polymer materials used in the
preparations of membrane effectively alter the power output efficiency
of MFC. A biodegradable and economical polymer material, poly (vinyl
alcohol), chitosan and poly (vinyl alcohol): chitosan was also used in
membrane preparation. It has been reported that the performance of
poly (vinyl alcohol): chitosan composite membranes were 4 times higher
than the performance of Nafion® membrane (Robinson et al., 2010).
Table 2 shows maximum power density in a MFC using different
M.J. Khan et al. Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589

Table 1
Production of biopolymers in various bioelectrochemical systems.
Bioelectochemical system Type of substrates used Type of inoculum/culture used Type of biopolymer produced at anode References

Microbial fuel cell
Microbial electro synthesis
Microbial fuel cell
Microbial fuel cell
Microbial electro synthesis
Photosynthetic microbial cell
factory
MSC
Microbial fuel cell
Microbial electro synthesis
Photo- Microbial fuel cell
Synthetic wastewater
Fresh water
N-acetylglucosamine
(GlcNAc)
Distillery wastewater
Fresh water medium
– Rhodovulumsulfidophilum
Synthetic wastewater
Crab shell chitin
Formate containing synthetic
water
Domestic wastewater
Anaerobic and Aerobic consortia
Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1
RalstoniaeutrophaH16 and YHY2
Mixed anaerobic consortia
Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1
R. palustris G11
A. palladensis YHY2 and R. eutropha
H16
Cupriavidis necator H16
Rhodopseudomonas palustris G11
Polyhydroxyalkanoates Srikanth et al. (2012)
Polyhydroxybutyrate Rengasamy et al. (2017)
Polyhydroxyalkanoates Gurav et al. (2019b)
Chitosan Ghosh Ray and Ghangrekar
(2015)
Polyhydroxybutyrate Rengasamy et al. (2017)
Spider dragline silk Foong et al. (2020b)
Polyphosphate Lai et al. (2017)
Polyhydroxybutyrate, and Gurav et al. (2019b)
Polyhydroxyvalerate
Polyhydroxybutyrate Al Rowaihi et al. (2018)
Polyphosphate Lai et al. (2017)

biopolymers for preparing proton exchange membrane, substrate and
electrode.
Although there are several research studies in which starch is used as
carbon source for microbes in microbial fuel cell systems (Niessen et al.,
2004; Vijay et al., 2018; Jenol et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2021b). Cellulose
(C6H10O5)n is however, yet another abundant natural biopolymer,
degraded into butyrate, propionate and acetate etc. (Klemm et al., 2005;
Du et al., 2019). The degraded product of cellulose can be thus utilized
for energy carriers in fuel cell to produce bioelectricity. Cellulose can be
used as substrate in MFC because electrochemically active bacteria have
ability to degrade cellulose base bio-materials from waste and produce
bioelectricity (Rismani-Yazdi et al., 2007). The obtained result revealed
that the concentration of powdered giant reed significantly affects the
maximum power generation and chemical oxygen demand (COD)
removal. The concentration of powdered giant reed in wastewater was
0, 50, 75, and 100 gL− 1displayed maximum power density of 162, 195,
233, 392 mWm− 2, with COD removal efficiencies of 67, 79, 82, and 85%
respectively (Ismail et al., 2019).
In another study, sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC) was used to
reduce organic load in aquatic system through bioremediations of cel­
lulose. The power density generated in SMFC increased from 4 mWm− 2
to 8.47 mWm− 2 when 2% cellulose was added (Sajana et al., 2014). Also
a significant increase in maximum power density (55 mWm− 2) was re­
ported using rumen microorganisms as inoculums and cellulose as
substrates (Rismani-Yazdi et al., 2007). Further studies demonstrated
power density of 153 mWm− 2 using carboxymethyl cellulose (Ren et al.,
2009) and that of 190.2 mWm− 2 using cellulose as a substrate catalysed
by cellulose degrading bacteria (Hassan et al., 2012). Further the effi­
ciency of PMFC is also affected by the solubility of the cellulose. Zhang
et al. (Percival Zhang et al., 2006) reported current density of 586
mAm− 2 with soluble pure carboxymethyl cellulose while 124-359
mAm-2 with insoluble cellulose like substrates (Percival Zhang et al.,
2006). Chitosan is another biopolymer found in the hyphae cell wall of
filamentous fungi. It is a biodegradable natural polymer used as emul­
sifying agent, food additives, packaging. Ray et al. (Ray and Ghangrekar,
2015) reported that fungal treatment using Aspergillus awamori reduced
almost 70% of COD and up to 98% reduction in suspended solids (SS) in
cereal-based distillery stillage while of distillery wastewater treatment
resulted in complete removal of SS and overall. Besides this process
generated an important biopolymer chitosan as by product from fungal
mycelia during fermentation (Ray and Ghangrekar, 2015).
Chitin is yet another second most abundant natural polymer after
cellulose composed of N-acetyl-β-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) (Yang et al.,
2006). Marine biomass is composed of chitin as it is present in the
shrimps and crabs shell thus considered as food wastes (Yoshitomi and
Nagano, 2012). It supplies carbon, energy and nitrogen to the variety of
organisms (Zhang et al., 2014b). In aquatic environments under nutrient
limited conditions, some bacterial species are using chitin as a source of
carbon (Jagmann et al., 2010; Rout et al., 2021). Anaerobic bacterium
Aeromonas hydrophila is a popular electroactive bacterium having chi­
tinolytic activities thus potentially applied in MFC to generate
bioelectricity (Pham et al., 2003; Zhang et al., 2014a). The concentra­
tion of metabolites from chitin degradation in MFCs was seven-fold
more than the fermentation system. Additional advantage of chitin
degradation in MFC is the generation of bioelectricity. It has been shown
that degradation of chitin in MFC was faster compared to that in a
fermentation systems suggesting that extracellular hydrolysis of chitin
had been the rate-limiting step (Rezaei et al., 2009; Li et al., 2017b).
5. Removal of biopolymers in an MFC
One of the major environmental issues fronting the world today is the
pollution of soil, water and air by hazardous chemicals. Certain haz­
ardous compounds, such as aromatic amines, benzidine, dioxane,
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), bisphenol A, pentachloro­
phenol, polychlorinated biphenyl and 2.4,6 trinitrotoluene are persis­
tent in the environment and are known to have carcinogenic and/or
mutagenic effects (Reddy and Mathew, 2001; Sharma et al., 2021).
These have become a threat to our aquatic system. These toxic com­
pounds are released, into the aquatic system thus affecting the whole
aquatic as well as terrestrial ecosystem (Bolong et al., 2009; Liu et al.,
2021a).
PMFC can be applied for the treatment of several anthropogenic
pollutants like benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), azo
dyes, and sulphide containing pollutants present in wastewater are re­
ported to be removed significantly during the treatment (Feng et al.,
2021; Pandey et al., 2021a; Shindhal et al., 2021). Besides treatment of
these harmful anthropogenic pollutants, PMFC produced several valu­
able products and generating bioelectricity. Microalgae present in the
cathodes of PMFC synthesize lipid, carotenoids and proteins etc. which
have enormous market value. Removal of harmful materials by PMFC
require lesser energy with high output (Rhoads et al., 2005; Zhou et al.,
2013). It generates electricity along with purifying wastewater (Catal
et al., 2008). Beside municipal waste, PMFC technology can be applied
to treat industrial and agricultural wastes (Han et al., 2015; Raschitor
et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2016). The fundamental removal mechanism
of pollutants majority of which are pharmaceutical drugs and metals
released via chemical leaching and disintegration of various personal
care and food products including plastic and metal trash materials is via
adsorbents (Pavithra et al., 2021). These may be nanomaterials like
carbon and graphene nanotubes are not extensively used due to high
cost. Moreover, the conventional adsorbents like zeolites, clays, poly­
meric adsorbents, AC and bentonites used extensively for removal of
carbamazepine, ibuprofen and diclofenac have low adsorption capac­
ities. However, the biopolymer like cellulose, starch, alginate, poly­
saccharides, chitosans to name a few are naturally produced

6
M.J. Khan et al. Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589

Table 2 biopolymers which adsorbs the metals and other pollutants forming a
Power density produced in a Microbial Fuel cell using biopolymers. complex hybrid while simultaneously cleaning the wastewater in a
Polymer used in Type of wastewater Power References PMFC.
proton density Electrolytes rich in polymers are important component in microbial
exchange fuel cells. In order to enhance the efficiency of fuel cells polymer elec­
membrane in
trolytes are one of the cheapest and cost-effective techniques. Of the
MFC
existing synthetic polymers, biopolymers are from natural resources are
Chitosan/ Brewery wastewater 3022.39 Harewood et al. biodegradable, cheap and are ecofriendly and are effective in cleaning
biodegradable mW m− 2 (2017)
copolymer 3486.73
wastewater rich in metal pollutants, dyes, drugs etc. in a MFC (Table 3).
Membrane mW m− 2 The biopolymers form nanocomposites or hybrid structures with
Nafion 117 different nanomaterials and are effective in removing various toxic
membrane metals and dyes as shown in Table 3.
Starch Swine house effluent 945.69 Obasi et al.
Among the biopolymers polysaccharides, starch and chitosan have
mWm− 2 (2012)
Starch treated with Swine house effluent 1068.54 Obasi et al. attracted much interest to be used in a MFC to clean wastewater at cost
5.9% sodium mWm− 2 (2012) effective ways. Even though in a MFC biopolymers need to be added
chloride since microbes produce biopolymers not very efficiently, however in a
Poly (ether ether Dairy and domestic 670 Ayyaru and PMFC with microalgae at anode or cathode produce biomass rich in
2
ketone) wastewater mWm− Dharmalingam
(2011)
polysaccharides, starch, cellulose, carrageen and sometimes alginate.
Starch modified Swine house effluent 570.83 Obasi et al. However, in a PMFC with microalgae at cathode the biopolymers are
with sodium mWm− 2 (2012) extracted or harvested to be used externally to clean wastewater at
alginate (a gum) anode as shown in Fig. 3. However, in a PMFC with microalgae at anode
and activated
the biopolymers are synthesized and keep on cleaning the wastewater by
carbon
Poly (vinylidene Domestic wastewater 15.8 Kim et al. adsorption as well as generating bioelectricity and manufacturing value
fluoride) mWm− 2
(2014) added products like carotenoids and lipids. As earlier mentioned that
sulfonated future research in MFC should be focused on to test diatoms in PMFC,
Chitosan:Alginate Local municipal wastewater 115 Lee et al. since diatoms are great sensors of metal pollution since they not only
2
(1:1) mWm− (2019)
change their valve morphology but also produce more lipid bodies under
Poly-(R)-3- Food wastewater 601 (Olayiwola
hydroxybutyrate mWm− 2
Sirajudeen stress (Gautam et al., 2017). However, due to its silica wall diatoms
et al., 2021) don’t ooze crude oil and pigments easily (Vinayak et al., 2014, 2015),
Polybenzimidazole Domestic wastewater 400 Angioni et al. therefore many studies have been done to let them ooze oil variety of
3
mWm− (2018)
fuel cells in quest of designing a diatom solar panel. On the offset the
Polymer used as Power/ References diatoms in PMFC may not only act as diatom PMFC but a hybrid diatom
substrate in Current solar panel for Diafuel™ (biofuel from diatoms) (Vinayak et al., 2018),
MFC density
biomass rich in biopolymers, pigments (fucoxanthins) and a clean at­
Powdered giant Reed-loaded wastewater 162, 195, Ismail et al. mosphere as the end products (Gautam et al., 2016). Besides this the
reed (cellulose) 233 and (2019)
beautiful nanoarchitecture of silicaceous diatom frustules acts as ad­
0, 50, 75 and 100 392
gL-1 mWm− 2 sorbents for a variety of metals, plastics and NP (Kumar et al., 2016;
Poly (lactic) acid Textile wastewater 4.4 ± 0.2 Qi et al. (2018) Vinayak et al., 2017; Gupta et al., 2018; Ghobara et al., 2019; Khan
mAcm− 2 et al., 2020).
Acetate Wolfe’s trace mineral and 2720 Xing et al. Some commonly occurring biopolymers and role they play in
vitamins mWm− 2 (2008)
Chitin (1%) Soil sediment into 50 mL 1.742 Gurav et al.
removal of pollutants from wastewater are as following.
seawater containing chitin mWcm− 2 (2019a)
(1%) (i) Chitosan
Cellulose Clarified rumen fluid 55 Rismani-Yazdi
2
mWm− et al. (2007)
Chitosan a polysaccharide biosource is one of the naturally occurring
Polymer used in Power/ References biodegradable biopolymer having amide and hydroxyl group of
anode Current glucosamine. It is one of the cheaply occurring biopolymer which is
density
produced to remove industrial effluents. It is mainly composed of N-
Polyaniline Bacteria suspension 388.6 Liu et al. (2017) deacetylated chitin found in the insect cuticles and shells of crustacean
2
mW m−
animals. It is widely used as biocatalyst to treat the wastewaters having
Chitosan-nitrogen Sodium dihydrogen 1891.5 Xu et al. (2019)
doped carbon phosphate, disodium mW m− 2 capability to adsorb the effluents. Chitosan based adsorbents are
nanotubes- hydrogen phosphate, essentially used to remove the dye and metal ions from wastewaters. On
polyaniline (CS- ammonium chloride, the other end chitosan and cellulose have together been found most
NCNT-PANI) calcium chloride, abundant biopolymers in nature. The most suitable example being cel­
magnesium sulphate,
ammonium sulphate,
lulose nanofibrils decorated with chitosans nanocrystals used as nano­
potassium chloride and adsorbents to clean wastewater removing metals (CNC) (Liu et al., 2014;
manganese sulphate Gopi et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2017a).
Graphite + 2,6- 8.3 Plekhanova On the other hand, chitosan nanocomposites are effective in removal
2
chitosan, poly dichlorophenolindophenol μWcm− et al. (2018)
of methyl orange (MO) dye. Additionally chitosan doped magnetic
(vinyl alcohol) (DCPIP) 10.6
Multiwalled μWcm− 2 nanoparticles with glutaraldehyde as a crosslinker have been used to
carbon eliminate acid red − 2 from textile wastewaters (Kadam and Lee, 2015).
nanotubes Also Au/TiO2 on a chitosan fiber are used for the degradation of various
water pollutants like methyl blue (MB) while simultaneously reducing
Cr (IV) (Shoueir et al., 2019). The magnetic chitosans crosslinked with
kappa-carrageenan also act as bioadsorbent in removal of metal pol­
lutants and dyes. Besides this chitosan showed removal of more than

7
M.J. Khan et al. Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589

Table 3
Different biopolymers produced by organisms and their target pollutant removal.
Type of organism Biopolymer Biopolymer Composite Pollutant Reference
produced removed

Brown algae, Alginate Nanocomposite alginate-based electrospun membranes; Nanocomposite Metal (Kuang et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2017b;
crustacean alginate-based electrospun membranes; Dodero et al., 2020)
shells Calcium alginate encapsulated Ni/Fe nanoparticles beads
Alginate-coated perlite beads; Alginate-Based Hydrogel Beads Dyes (Asadi et al., 2018; Parlayici, 2019)
Red seaweed Carrageen Iota-carrageenan based magnetic aerogels Metal Abdellatif et al. (2020)
kappacarrageenan/poly (glycidyl methacrylate) hydrogel beads; Dyes (Lapwanit et al., 2018; Lv et al., 2020;
κ-carrageenan-poly (acrylamide-comethacrylic acid)/AQSOA-Z05 zeolite Mittal et al., 2020; Prasannan et al., 2020)
hydrogel composites; carrageenan/laponite multilayers; sodium lignin
sulfonate embedded in carrageenan
Plants, algae Starch Crosslinked porous sorbents Dyes (Guo et al., 2019; Nasrollahzadeh et al.,
2020)
Crosslinked copolymers Metals Grząbka-Zasadzińska et al. (2021)
Plants, algae, Cellulose Fe3O4/bacterial cellulose nanocomposite; Fe2O3 nanomaterial; Metals (Donia et al., 2012; Luther et al., 2012;
Bacteria Nano–magnetic cellulose; APTES modified cellulose Hokkanen et al., 2014; Luo et al., 2020)
Surface quaternized cellulose nanofibrils Dyes Pei,
Butchosa,
Berglund &
Zhou, 2013
Plants, insects, Chitosans Chitosan-TiO2; polypyrrole/chitosan/carbon nanotube composite; Metal (Abdi et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2019;
algae polypyrrole Anaya-Esparza et al., 2020)
chitin nanocrystals decorated on 3D cellulose aerogels; Au@TiO2 Dye (Gopi et al., 2017; Shoueir et al., 2019)
photocatalyst bio-based chitosan fiber

Fig. 3. Recovery of biopolymers from microalgae A: in photosynthetic microbial fuel cell with microalgae at cathode and B: algal microbial fuel cell at anode.

8
M.J. Khan et al.
90% of herbicides (oxadiazon) from wastewater (Arvand et al., 2009).
Yet another work demonstrated that a nanoelectrode prepared by
polymerization of polypyrrole (PPy)/CS/CNT showed adsorption of
copper ions from the wastewater (Zhang et al., 2019).
(ii). Alginates
Alginate is yet another biopolymer which is stable, nontoxic, for
adsorption of contaminants from wastewater. Alginates are made up of
two uronic acids β –D mannuronic acid and α-L-guluronic acid linked via
β-1,4-glycosidic bonds. Due to its high surface area, network structure
Core/shell Fe/Ag NPs from calcium alginates modified by amino­
thiophenol have been extensively used for the removal of 2-NP and 4-NP
(Gupta et al., 2014). Also hybrid structures of calcium alginate and
titania are used to remove Cu+2, Cr+3, Cr+6, Co+2 and Cd+2 from the
wastewater (Wu et al., 2012). On the offset the 3D network structure of
alginate biosorbents effectively remove Ag+, Al+3, Ba+2, Fe+3, Ca+2 etc.
(Cheng et al., 2012; Topuz et al., 2012; Yang et al., 2013; Dodero et al.,
2020). Calcium alginate hydrogel beads are also used to remove methyl
violet (MV) from wastewater or aqueous solutions (Asadi et al., 2018).
Such hydrogels for example alginate coated perlite beads are also used to
remove other possible dyes found in the wastewater like methyl violet,
methylene blue, malachite green to name a few (Parlayici, 2019). Yet
another composite of sodium alginate and TiO2 NP are effective adsor­
bents to remove dyes (Mahmoodi et al., 2011).
(iii). Cellulose
Cellulose based biopolymers are widely used in treatment of waste­
water. The cellulose exists in different structures like as nanofibrils and
nanocrystals. These are turning to effective nanoadsorbents not only due
to their efficiency in removal of pollutants from wastewater but being
biodegradable and environmentally friendly (Janani et al., 2021; Var­
jani et al., 2021b). Cellulose composites with various polymer matrix not
only enhance its strength but also resistance to biofouling and being
specific for adsorption to specific pollutants. The surface moieties of
cellulose nanomaterials are further enhanced to remove hydrophobic
components too. Khan et al. (2019)showed how cellulose fibres from
Luffa cylindrica doped with TiO2 and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are
efficient in adsorbing hydrophobic lipid droplets that oozed out from
diatoms. Further cellulose from microbes doped with TiO2 is effective
against removal of toluene on irradiation of UV(Rezaee et al., 2016).
Another work by Wang et al. (2014)showed that nanocellulose hydro­
gels crosslinked with graphene oxide helped in removal of cyclohexane
and dimethylformamide (DMF). The cellulose nanofibrils can thus be
surface modified for selective adsorption of metal ions, dyes and other
pollutants by modifying their functional group.
(iv) Starch
Starch is the most commonly found biopolymer not only from mi­
crobes, microalgae but higher plants. They are biomacromolecules
which are amylopectins branched having 1 → 6 and 1 → 4 linkage.
Different methods to obtain starch nanocrystals have been synthesized
to adsorb the pollutants as well as chemical moieties of interest. Cross­
linking the cornstarch with epichlorohydrin in the presence of enzyme α
amylase helps in removal of MB and golden yellow dye from water (Guo
et al., 2013, 2019). Magnetic nanoparticles (MNP/starch-g-poly (vinyl
sulphate) nanocomposites were effective in removing various dyes like
MB and malachite green (MG) from aqueous solutions. Furthermore it
has been seen that crosslinked starch with amide groups are effective in
removal of Pb+2 and Cu+2 ions (Zhang and Chen, 2002).
(v) Carrageenan
Carrageenans metabolites extracted from red seaweeds are rich in
9
Chemosphere 288 (2022) 132589
sulphur polysaccharides. They mainly occur in three forms viz; kappa,
iota and lambda carrageenans depending upon the degree of sulpho­
nation. Of these kappa carrageenans coated with supramagnetic ferric
oxide NP are excellent adsorbents to remove dyes eg. MB from aqueous
or wastewater (Salgueiro et al., 2013). Besides this a zeolite hydrogel
composite (ZHC) of kappa carrageenans has effectively removed MB
from aqueous solutions. ZHC is an excellent choice for removal of
cationic dyes in wastewaters. Additionally the kappa carrageenans form
the seaweeds form a composite with nanoclaylapnoite and are effective
in organic pollutants from the wastewater as well as dyes (Mittal et al.,
2020). On the other hand a dendrimer of iota carrageenans and poly­
amidoamine are excellently used in removal of Co+2, Cu+2, Mn+7, Cr
(IV), Cd+2 and Alphanol fast blue in the presence of different concen­
tration of nanoparticles (Abdellatif et al., 2020).
6. Bottlenecks and future perspectives
Upscaling the MFC to PMFC is definitely advantageous since
microalgae can be easily procured from the environment and require
basic nutrients and components like H2O, light and CO2 to grow.
However, selection of microalgae species is important in order to build a
PMFC which is efficient, cheap and yields good amount of biomass rich
in biopolymers, pigments and crude oil. Though there are many
microalgae species which are rich producers of value-added metabolites,
however future perspectives of PMFC needs length study using micro­
algae like diatoms. The reason being diatoms are robust microalgae
which can not only survive in robust environmental conditions but serve
as sensors of many kinds of wastewater pollutants. They grow efficiently
in wastewater, are primary producers and major producers of available
crude oil on the globe. On the offset PMFC’s with microalgae have great
future not only for the production of biofuel and carotenoids but also for
their ability to produce biopolymers. These biopolymers can be immo­
bilized at different components of MFC to develop circular economy for
generation of electricity at a cost-effective way. MFC’s are basically
meant to clean wastewater on the offset, more studies and research need
to be done to increase the power output which has been the major
roadblock in either kind of MFC.
7. Conclusions
Photosynthetic microalgal fuel cells with microalgae tend to increase
their power density with increase in light intensity or use of mono­
chromatic blue and red light. The increased growth thus simultaneously
results in increase in biomass and hence increases biopolymers and
value-added products. The biopolymers can essentially be used as
nanoadsorbents in wastewater in PMFC’s to remove metals and dyes.
However, if microalgae are used at anode in live state, the efficiency of
removal of pollutants tend to increase due to biopolymers being directly
produced in wastewater. Therefore, more studies need to be done to
explore the study of microalgae which are electrogenic at anode and also
check the possibility of diatoms in such PMFC. The state-of the-art in­
formation on microalgae and processes narrated in this paper would
help researchers and academicians design better experimental setups to
refine existing protocols and meet the future demands of commercial
production.
Credit author statement
Mohd Jahir Khan: Literature review; Writing - original draft; Data
curation; Funding acquisition, Nikhil Singh: Literature review; Writing -
original draft; Data curation, Sudhanshu Mishra: Literature review;
Writing - original draft; Data curation, Ankesh Ahirwar: Literature re­
view; Writing - original draft; Data curation; Funding acquisition, Felix
Bast: Review & editing, Sunita Varjani: Conceptualization; Supervision;
Writing - original draft; Review & editing, Benoit Schoefs: Review &
editing, Justine Marchand: Review & editing, Karthik Rajendran:
M.J. Khan et al.
Review & editing, J. Rajesh Banu: Review & editing, Ganesh Dattatraya
Saratale: Review & editing, Rijuta Ganesh Saratale: Review & editing,
Vandana Vinayak: Supervision; Writing - original draft; Review &
editing; Funding acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
MJK is thankful to Department of Science and Technology Nano­
mission Government of India for the Post doc fellowship. AA is thankful
to Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFC­
PAR/CEFIPRA) Government of India for the Junior Research Fellow­
ship. This manuscript has been funded by DST Nanomission project
number (SR/NM/NT-1090/2014(G)) sanctioned to VV and CEFIPRA
(PPMB-7133/2020) Indo France project sanctioned to VV, BS and JM.
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