Nature-based solutions for wastewater treatment (WWT) employing microalgae enable the assimilation of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds (nutrients). Such WWT process has two key effects: the reuse of algal biomass and treated wastewater. The utilization of nutrients from alternative sources prevents the loss of nutrients in the environment and reduces their runoff from agricultural and other surfaces to the surface water (eutrophication). The WWT efficiency is affected by the pollutants present in it, such as e.g. pesticides and microplastics (MPs). Within the doctoral thesis, three areas were investigated: a) the development of a method for MPs identification, b) interactions between microalgae, MPs, and pesticides in the wastewater, and c) the vector potential of MPs to transfer model pesticides in soil. The developed method for MPs identification from environmental samples is based on the melting of MPs and the extraction of polymer-specific volatile compounds on a microextraction fibre followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses. The results of studies of interaction between the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris, MPs (PE, PET, PS) and model pesticides (acetamiprid, chlorantraniliprole, flubendiamide) showed no effect on the growth of the microalgal culture. Pesticides, but not MPs, affected the production of photosynthetic pigments as well as ammonium and orthophosphate concentrations in wastewater. The vector ability of MPs, depending on hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions was confirmed. The hydrophobic pesticide, flubendiamide, was the most retained by PE, somewhat less by PS, and the least by others. The addition of algal biomass in alluvial soil increased the sorption rate of acetamiprid, but not of chlorantraniliprole and flubendiamide.
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