Bioremediation of water containing pesticides by microalgae: Mechanisms, methods, and prospects for future research Jing Nie a , Yuqing Sun b , Yaoyu Zhou a, ⁎, Manish Kumar b , Muhammad Usman c , Jiangshan Li d , Jihai Shao a , Lei Wang b , Daniel C.W. Tsang b a College of Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China b Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China c PEIE Research Chair for the Development of Industrial Estates and Free Zones, Center for Environmental Studies and Research, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khoud 123, Oman d State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China HIGHLIGHTS • Pesticide pollution can be treated by microalgae technology. • Removal mechanisms and methods for pesticide removal by microalgae • Recycling of microalgae after wastewa- ter treatment • Limitations and future perspectives of microalgae technology GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 25 August 2019 Received in revised form 20 November 2019 Accepted 10 December 2019 Available online 12 December 2019 The application of pesticides reduces the loss of crops while simultaneously increasing crop productivity. How- ever, the frequent use of pesticides can cause serious environmental problems due to their high accumulative and persistent nature. Recently, microalgae technology has received considerable success in the efficient treat- ment of pesticides pollution. In this review, the metabolic mechanisms responsible for the removal of pesticides are summarized based on previous studies. Different methods used to enhance the ability of microalgae to re- move pesticides are critically evaluated. The recycling of microalgae biomass after wastewater treatment for bio- char preparation and biodiesel production using the biorefinery approach is also introduced. Furthermore, we present potential future research directions to highlight the prospects of microalgae research in the removal of pesticides along with the production of value-added products. © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Pesticide Water pollution Green remediation Microalgae Biodiesel 1. Introduction Pesticides include herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, acaricides, nematicides, rodenticide, plant growth regulators, defoliants, anti- rodent drugs, etc. (Köck et al., 2010; Rasmussen et al., 2015; Tsaboula et al., 2018). In modern agriculture, pesticides occupy an indispensable position and are widely used in other industries, such as forestry and an- imal husbandry, to enhance crop production and increase economic benefits. However, the indiscriminate utilization of pesticides could lead to a sharp increase in and accumulation of pesticides in the envi- ronment, resulting in serious pesticide contamination (Song et al., Science of the Total Environment 707 (2020) 136080 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: zhouyy@hunau.edu.cn (Y. Zhou). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136080 0048-9697/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv