The fungus–algae pellets could be also used as sorbents for biosorptive
detoxification of heavy/toxic metal-containing industrial
wastewaters and water recycling due to their unique spherical or
ellipsoidal properties. It is well known that microalgae have a high
biosorptive capacity for a variety of metal ions and have been used
for heavy metal removal for decades either by accumulation or
absorption [40]. It was also found that fungi are ideal microorganisms
for heavy metal remediation due to the surface features of
their cell walls and pigmentation [41]. Therefore, relatively higher
metals biosorptive capacity might be attained for the immobilized/
pelletized fungus–algae biomass than algae or fungi alone [42].
Moreover, some heavy metals such as Ni, Si, and Al are good catalysts
for thermochemical conversion of harvested fungus–algae
pellets directly to high quality bio-oil [43]. Nevertheless, the issues
of scaling-up possibility and economic feasibility of the developed
fungi-assisted harvesting system should be further investigated
and evaluated in the near future.