Pesticide treatment dramatically reduces crop loss and enhances agricultural productivity, promoting global food security and economic growth. However, owing to high accrual and persistent tendency, pesticides could create significant ecological consequences when used often. Lately, the perspective has transitioned to implementing biological material, environmentally sustainable, and economical strategies via bioremediation approaches to eradicate pesticides contaminations. Microalgae were regarded as a prominent option for the detoxification of such hazardous contaminants. Sustainable application and remediation strategies of pesticides pollutants in the agriculture system by microalgae from the past studies, and recent advancements were integrated into this review. Bibliometric strategies to enhance the research advancements in pesticide bioremediation by microalgae between 2010 and 2020 were implemented through critical comparative analysis of documents from Scopus and PubMed databases. As a result, this study identified a growing annual research trend from 1994 to 2020 (nScopus > nPubMed). Global production of pesticide remediation by microalgae demonstrated significant contributions from India (23.8%) and China (16.7%). The author’s keyword clustering was visualized using bibliometric software (VOSviewer), which revealed the strongest network formed by “microalgae”, “bioremediation”, “biodegradation”, “cyanobacteria”, “wastewater”, and “pesticide” as significant to the research topic. Hence, this bibliometric review will facilitate the future roadmap for many scholars and authors who were drawing attention to the burgeoning research on bioremediation of pesticides to counteract environmental impacts while maintaining food sustainability.

One of the most severe environmental issues affecting the sustainable growth of human society is water pollution. Phenolic compounds are toxic, hazardous and carcinogenic to humans and animals even at low concentrations. Thus, it is compulsory to remove the compounds from polluted wastewater before being discharged into the ecosystem. Biotechnology has been coping with environmental problems using a broad spectrum of microorganisms and biocatalysts to establish innovative techniques for biodegradation. Biological treatment is preferable as it is cost-effective in removing organic pollutants, including phenol. The advantages and the enzymes involved in the metabolic degradation of phenol render the efficiency of microalgae in the degradation process. The focus of this review is to explore the trends in publication (within the year of 2000–2020) through bibliometric analysis and the mechanisms involved in algae phenol degradation. Current studies and publications on the use of algae in bioremediation have been observed to expand due to environmental problems and the versatility of microalgae. VOSviewer and SciMAT software were used in this review to further analyse the links and interaction of the selected keywords. It was noted that publication is advancing, with China, Spain and the United States dominating the studies with total publications of 36, 28 and 22, respectively. Hence, this review will provide an insight into the trends and potential use of algae in degradation.

Owing to its excellent qualities as a natural sorbent, rice husk (RH), a significant agricultural waste product obtained from the milling process, is employed as a biosorbent for engine oil. Engine oil spillages in rivers will flow to the ocean, exposing marine life to deadly contaminants. To date, there are very few natural sorbent studies specifically targeting engine oil removal. The purpose of this study was to optimise the significant factors in the efficiency of engine oil sorption by RH. Spectroscopic analyses using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed to characterise the chemical composition and surface morphology of RH sorbent after pre- and post-treatment. A conventional optimisation approach, one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT), was used to assess the range of factors affecting the efficiency of engine oil sorption through heat treatment, heating time, packing density, and concentration of engine oil. The efficiency of engine oil removal obtained from this method was 74.5%. All the factors were assessed using a Plackett–Burman design (PBD) to eliminate non-significant factors. Furthermore, a central composite design (CCD) was employed to explore significant interactions among the factors. The quadratic model generated (R² = 0.9723) fitted the data well. The optimised conditions from the CCD were 160 °C, 20 min, 0.16 g/cm³, and 12.5% (v/v), with improved oil sorption from 74.5% (OFAT) to 78.89% (RSM).