Five mutated genotypes of Haematococcus pluvialis useful for crude oil wastewater bioremediation

The extraction of crude oil is one of the principal sources of pollution for our ecosystem. Technologies to solve this problem are many, but few use eco-sustainable methodologies. However, microalgae can also be considered excellent environmental bioremediators. In this study, the microalga Haematococcus pluvialis was subjected to high selective pressure to obtain mutant genotypes able to remove contaminants deriving from oil. The results show that Haematococcus pluvialis can survive in so stressful environment modifying its metabolisms. Two of the five isolated genotypes, PA1002 and PA1004 remove hydrocarbons from the medium (1 %) by 60.99 % and 95.28 %, respectively. Moreover, the PA1004 genotype, found to be the most performing, showed improvements in the level of fatty acids and antioxidant activity following the hydrocarbon removal process, also being less cytotoxic than the untreated control. This represents a central point for circular economy where microalgae remove pollutants from the environment and produce useful subproduct.