Conventional methods for the treatment of wastewater are not able to completely remove emerging pollutants and are not sustainable. Pharmaceuticals are an emerging group of pollutants. Among them, sertraline is an antidepressant, and its use has increased worldwide during the COVID19 pandemic. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the removal of sertraline using a microalgal bloom isolated from wastewater. For this purpose, a wastewater sample was collected from Quinta do Lago, Algarve, Portugal and the microalgal bloom was grown in the lab under controlled conditions. An initial cytotoxicity experiment was carried out, to determine until what concentration of sertraline the microalgal bloom was able to survive. Following, sertraline removal experiments were carried out at the concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0 and 10.0 mg/L. The removal efficiency of sertraline was determined by quantifying the amount of sertraline remaining in the cultivation media using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Removals of 92.4 % and 91.4 % were obtained by microalgal blooms exposed to 5 and 10 mg/L of sertraline, respectively, in 48h. Microalgal biomass was analyzed for moisture, ashes, carbohydrates, proteins and lipids to assess possible uses and biomass valorization in a circular bioeconomy concept. Exposure to different sertraline concentrations did not induce significant variation in the carbohydrate and protein contents. Because of the large amount of carbohydrates, it is proposed to use the biomass to produce bioethanol, biogas or bio-oil. Two sertraline resistant microalgal strains were isolated and identified as a cyanobacteria and a chlorophyte.
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