Abstract
The world is currently facing water and energy-related environmental pollution and is in desperate need of a sustainable green energy production technology that can effectively integrate wastewater treatment. The photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (photoMFC) or biophotovoltaic (BPV) system is a cutting-edge green-energy platform that utilises microalgae to convert solar energy to electrical energy via photosynthesis. Fast-growing microalgae have also become critical in wastewater treatment, demonstrating great potential as a sustainable and low-cost biological wastewater treatment agent capable of converting CO2 into a value-added biomass. By incorporating a microalgae-assisted wastewater treatment component into BPV technology, the possibility of combining bioelectricity generation, wastewater treatment, toxic heavy metal uptake, CO2 biosequestration, and potentially high-quality biodiesel-based-economic biomass production into a self-sustaining technology is created. This study was ultimately designed to isolate indigenous South African freshwater microalgae species for use in a novel integrated dual chambered Biophotovoltaic (BPVINT) system since more microalgae strains with exceptional characteristics remain undiscovered in the wild...