Recent advancements in wastewater treatment via anaerobic fermentation process: A systematic review

This manuscript delves into the realm of wastewater treatment, with a particular emphasis on anaerobic fermentation processes, especially dark, photo, and dark-photo fermentation processes, which have not been covered and overviewed previously in the literature regarding the treatment of wastewater. Moreover, the study conducts a bibliometric analysis for the first time to elucidate the research landscape of anaerobic fermentation utilization in wastewater purification. Furthermore, microorganisms, ranging from microalgae to bacteria and fungi, emphasizing the integration of these agents for enhanced efficiency, are all discussed and compared. Various bioreactors, such as dark and photo fermentation bioreactors, including tubular photo bioreactors, are scrutinized for their design and operational intricacies. The results illustrated that using clostridium pasteurianum CH4 and Rhodopseudomonas palustris WP3-5 in a combined dark-photo fermentation process can treat wastewater to a pH of nearly 7 with over 90% COD removal. Also, integrating Chlorella sp and Activated sludge can potentially treat synthetic wastewater to COD, P, and N percentage removal rates of 99%,86%, and 79%, respectively. Finally, the paper extends to discuss the limitations and future prospects of dark-photo fermentation processes, offering insights into the road ahead for researchers and scientists.