Environmental pollution management through conventional methods in the
wake of new, recalcitrant, and increasing pollutant loads are no longer adequate or
sustainable. Bioaugmentation for pollutant removal is an environmental (water and
soil) decontamination approach alternative to the popular and traditional physicochemical methods. Despite bioaugmentation’s attractiveness based on being greener
than the traditional methods, there are still several bottlenecks towards operating some
bioaugmented processes optimally. Most bioaugmentation problems arise during
upscaling successful lab-scale trials to industrial operations. In most cases, the
bioaugmented micro-organisms survive for just a short span of time before their
populations decrease prior to completion of the pollutant removal task. Research on
various aspects meant to address this and other bioaugmentation challenges has been
partly successful and such efforts are still ongoing. As part of evaluating and
optimising bioaugmentation processes, sustainability concepts should always be
considered at every stage of these activities. The application of bioaugmentation
techniques is also gaining popularity in other industries, such as biogas production.
Keywords: Microalgae, Bioremediation, Sustainable, Contaminants, Omics
