The Bright Side of Cyanobacteria: Revising the Nuisance Potential and Prospecting Innovative Biotechnology-Based Solutions to Integrate Water Management Programs

Global warming and the anthropogenic degradation of water quality are pointed out as main causes of the worldwide increase in frequency, severity, and duration of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Cyanobacteria, major constituents of HABs, can cause ecological, economic, and human health problems, configuring a dark side requiring management attention. Their growth can be potentiated by climate change consequences, highlighting further the urgency of improving HABs management strategies to ensure water quality. An innovative perspective for cyanobacteria management is the exploitation of their bright side. Several exploitable products produced by cyanobacteria (e.g., bioactive pigments, lipids, proteins) present high market value. Thus, this work provides a critical perspective on how HABs management may be connected with biotechnology in the future. We propose the use of the biomass of cyanobacteria blooms physically removed in traditional control actions (much needed to ensure environmental and even human health safety) as a feedstock for future valorization, thus allying profit to water quality management, in a win-win relationship between economics and environmental sustainability. Such a proposal was validated with an economic analysis, which evidenced a relevant potential for a positive return (hence rendering profit likely to occur), both considering only the delivery of harvested biomass to production units and the full valuation route from harvesting to the selling of the extracted/purified product using phycocyanin as a model.

Automated summary

Global warming and human-induced degradation of water quality are identified as main causes of the global increase in harmful algal blooms (HABs). Cyanobacteria, major components of HABs, can lead to ecological, economic, and human health issues. Utilizing cyanobacteria biomass for high-value products could create a win-win relationship between environmental and economic sustainability in water quality management.