Anushree Malik

• PhD
• Chair at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

The prediction of pollutants removal efficiency from the generated effluent of a treatment plant is valuable and can reduce the time, sampling and energy required during performance assessment. The present study aims to predict the effect of different input parameters on the treatment efficiency of the developed microbial‐based anaerobic process fo...

Micropollutants, such as heavy metals and pesticides, inhibit microbial growth, threatening ecosystems. Yet, the mechanism behind mycoremediation of the pesticide lindane and multiple metals (Cd, Total Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) remains poorly understood. In our study, we investigated cellular responses in Aspergillus fumigatus PD-18 using LC-MS/MS, ident...

The inadequate conversion of rice husk (RH) into biogas due to its recalcitrant lignocellulosic structure and high silica content necessitates the requirement of pretreatment prior to anaerobic digestion (AD) of RH. This study evaluated the impact of hydrothermal pretreatment on the solubilization of complex lignocellulosic matrix of RH and its sub...

The study investigates the feasibility and performance of an indigenously designed algal-bacterial biofilm reactor (ABR) for treating graywater in rural areas. Focusing on both treatment efficacy and sustainability, the research explored two key areas: optimizing the ABR for efficient graywater treatment and evaluating the use of readily available,...

Microalgae are renewable biological resources that play a major role in the bioeconomy for sustainable development of diversified bioproducts and biomaterials. Microalgae have a tremendous potential in producing a variety of bioactive compounds, namely lipids, proteins, polysaccharides, photosynthetic pigments, vitamins, and minerals, as a single f...

Certified that the design of which a copy is annexed hereto has been registered as of the number and date given above in class 23-01 in respect of the application of such design to MICROBUBBLE GENERATOR ASSEMBLY in the name of Indian Institute Of Technology Delhi. In pursuance of and subject to the provisions of the Designs Act, 2000 and the Desig...

This work centered on the valorization of brown macroalgae by sequentially extracting multiple value-added compounds using emerging green extraction techniques. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was used to extract lipids (up to 8%) from Padina tetrastromatica and Turbinaria conoides biomass, which was found to be rich in polyunsaturated fatty a...

This study utilizes different emerging green extraction technologies to recover maximum value-added products from Kappaphycus alvarezii and evaluate their bio-functional properties. Using the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) method, the total lipid yield of 0.21 ± 0.2 % was obtained from the biomass. Linoleic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, arachi...

Although biological treatment of textile effluent is a preferred option for industries avoiding toxic chemical sludge production and disposal, requirement of several extra pre-treatment units like neutralization, cooling systems or additives, results in higher operational cost. In the present study, a pilot scale sequential microbial-based anaerobi...

The current study investigated the role of fucoidan from Padina tetrastromatica and Turbinaria conoides against 3-chymotrypsin like protease (3CLpro) and receptor binding domain (RBD) spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 using an invitro and computational approach. The 3CLpro and RBD genes were successfully cloned in pET28a vector, expressed in BL-21DE3 E....

The textile industry is a growing sector worldwide and has immense opportunity in terms of providing employment and boosting a nation’s economy. However, there exist severe environmental risks associated with textile effluents that impact the surrounding ecosystem. This review offers an approach for sustainable water management using phycoremediati...

Eutrophication is one of the major emerging challenges in aquatic environment. Industrial facilities, including food, textile, leather, and paper, generate a significant amount of wastewater during their manufacturing process. Discharge of nutrient-rich industrial effluent into aquatic systems causes eutrophication, eventually disturbs the aquatic...

This work centred on the valorisation of brown macroalgae by sequentially extracting multiple value-added compounds using developing green extraction techniques. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was used to extract lipids from biomass, which were found to be rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids with multiple nutraceutical applications. Using the...

Enzymatic (laccase mediated) decolorization of dyes remains inefficient for recalcitrant dyes, which can be better handled by electrocoagulation (EC). However, EC is energy intensive and produce large amount of sludge. In light of the same, present study offers a promising solution for the treatment of textile effluent meeting surface discharge nor...

Understanding the role of oxido-reductase enzymes followed by deciphering the functional genes and their corresponding proteins are crucial for the speculation of molecular mechanism for azo dye degradation. In the present study, decolourization efficiency of developed microbial consortium was tested using 100 mgL-1 reactive blue 13 (RB13) and the...

Studies highlighting the actual roadblocks in sustainability of algal fuels require systemic analysis using real-time experimental inventories. In view of this, the authors performed Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for 3 previously developed algal biofilms-based conversion systems; 1) wastewater grown algae (WWA) processed via anaerobic digestion (AD...

The textile industry generates enormous starch effluent from the desizing process that can be utilized as a nutrient source for fungal growth and simultaneous dye decolorization. In the present study, Trichoderma reesei was used as a potential fungal isolate for the decolorization of reactive dyes using a minimal salt media for growth. The dye remo...

A green extraction method is developed using partially hydrolysed microalgal cells grown in biocompatible solvent for simultaneous cultivation and extraction of bioproducts from a highly efficient permeabilized microalgal cell with enhanced biomass and lipid content for potential use in biodiesel production. Incomplete digestion of cell wall was ac...

The wastewater irrigation is carried out in order to make the nutrients present in the water available to the plants grown. But it also possesses potential health hazards due to the accumulation of heavy metals to the soil and plant parts from the wastewater. The present research work aimed to check the effect of wastewater and treated wastewater o...

Cyanobacterial pigments have an evolving market demand as natural colorants with numerous health benefits and diversified applications. Nevertheless, scaling up cyanobacterial pigment production to meet the market demand is economically unsustainable due to the high upstream processing costs, notably associated with the supply of nutrients during c...

Anaerobic process is a promising technique for textile effluent treatment. However, poor solid–liquid separation and residual chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the treated effluent limit its scope for industrial applications. The study analyzed the nature of suspended microbial biomass in the anaerobically treated effluent and further targeted its fe...

Metals and dyes are the general concomitant pollutants of wastewater. In the present study, the cadmium and reactive orange uptake capacity of Beauveria bassiana were evaluated. It was observed that at 30 mgL⁻¹ of cadmium concentration, up to 63% removal of cadmium was attained. As the concentration of cadmium increases from 30 to 100 mg L⁻¹, the r...

The study depicts the use of different extraction techniques to utilize each fraction of microalgal consortium biomass (Chlorella sp. and Phormidium sp.) for its conversion to value-added products (VAPs). The algal biomass was rich in proteins (30.8%), lipids (28.1%), carbohydrates and essential amino acids (36.29% of total protein). The lipid yiel...

Nanoplastics have become an emerging contaminant in water bodies that adversely affects aquatic biodiversity. The present study investigated the effect of different concentrations of polystyrene (PS) nano-plastics (NP), 500 nm in size, on green microalgae Chlorella pyrenoidosa in terms of its growth, chlorophyll-a synthesis, oxidative stress, and c...

Rice straw hydrolysate (RSH) prepared at room temperature was found to be rich in silica (140±4.1 mg L⁻¹) and other nutrients (nitrate-N: 160±4.3 mg L⁻¹, total dissolve phosphate: 164±6.7 mg L⁻¹, ammoniacal-N: 439.8±17 mg L⁻¹). The aim of this work was to study four RSH dilutions (10, 30, 50, 70% v/v) to cultivate Navicula sp. with modified ASN-III...

An environment friendly and wash-durable silver nanoparticle treatment of cotton fabrics was carried out by in situ reduction of silver nitrate using Azadirachta indica leaf extract. The wash durability of the silver nanoparticles treatment on the cotton fabric was improved by pretreating the fabrics by mercerization and by adopting hydrothermal co...

We investigated the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus PD-18 responses when subjected to the multimetal combination (Total Cr, Cd ²⁺ , Cu ²⁺ , Ni ²⁺ , Pb ²⁺ , and Zn ²⁺ ) in synthetic composite media. To understand how multimetal stress impacts fungal cells at the molecular level, the cellular response of A. fumigatus PD-18 to 30 mg/L multimetal stress (...

Microplastics (MPs) released from both primary and secondary sources affect the functioning of aquatic system. These MPs and components leached, can interact with aquatic organisms of all trophic levels, including the primary producers, such as microalgae. Considering the ecological value of microalgae and the toxicological effects of MPs towards t...

Ever rising human population leads to increased demand for fresh water, energy and food, which in turn results in upsurge of wastewater at both industrial and domestic level. These wastewaters are rich in organic and inorganic compounds which if remain untreated, are harmful to the environment. A number of methods have been used over the years for...

A study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of vermicompost at 1, 3 and 5% doses for biostimulation of chlorpyrifos (CPF) contaminated soil at ambient environment. Different doses of vermicompost (1, 5 and 3% application) were found effective in CPF degradation with half-life period of 18.7, 19.5 and 20.1 days, respectively whereas in untre...

Currently, drains in several cities carry both rainwater and untreated greywater with black water from settlements nearby. In emerging economies, cities often become hubs of illegal and unauthorised colonies which thrive in the vicinity of stormwater drains. These create a unique pressure on the infrastructure and pose a challenge for civic bodies...

The present work is first of its kind to attempt on year-round biogas production utilizing microalgal biomass from lake water. The analyses showed that the lake water contain ample nutrients (TAN: 3.6–16; TDP: 4.88–20.38 and NO3-N: 0.3–19.63 mg L−1) to support microalgal growth, with an average biomass concentration of ≈ 2.0 g L−1, throughout the y...

Diatom-based silica nanostructures have drawn attention as high-value nanomaterials. However, removing organic matter from the diatom biomass is a critical step towards biogenic silica recovery. In the present study, chemical treatment: HCl, HNO3, H2O2; high-temperature baking at 550 °C: 60 min, 120 min, 180 min; and oxygen plasma ashing: 30 min, 6...

A circular bio-based economy is based on the recycling of nutrients, reduction and utilization of wastes as a feedstock for processes that can generate various bioproducts. This review discusses the advantages and constraints in integrating algal technologies to establish an environmentally preferable circular biobased rural economy with a great po...

A green extraction process is proposed to reduce energy and petroleum solvent’s consumption while maintaining environmental safety and quality that allows multiple product recovery. The goal of the study was to generate a highly permeable cell, through the use of crude fungal enzymes, that could permit simultaneous cultivation and extraction. A nov...

Microalgae biomass is a robust feedstock which can be utilized for production numerous bioproducts. Nonetheless, their commercialization is hindered by intense costs associated with supplying nutrients required for microalgal growth. Furthermore, supplying nutrients for large-scale microalgal growth is unsustainable due to the depletion of abiotic...

Microalgae biomass is a potential feedstock for biodiesel, animal feed, biofertilizer, and other products such as bioactive compounds. Most of the reported studies describe microalgae as a green process, however, the impacts associated with its growth media and cultivation have seldom been studied. With an aim to analyze the environmental impacts,...

In this study, Chlorella minutissima was evaluated for its nutritional properties and antioxidant potential in macromolecular and food model systems. Additionally, the evaluation of α-glucosidase and acetylcholinesterase enzyme inhibition targeting diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease was done, respectively. Dry biomass of C. minutissima recorded total...

This study establishes an innovative and economic mini-photobioreactor system (mPBR) providing an optimum microalgae-wastewater screening tool. This study enables the effectiveness of microalgae in wastewater treatment by enhancing its productivity through improved operating conditions such as controlled light, temperature, and agitation. This was...

Industrialization and continuous depletion of nonrenewable resources with rise in greenhouse gases has led researchers to find alternate of fossil fuels. The modern world has started to change its reliability from fossil fuels to green energy strategy, which involves the application of microalgae that are photoautotrophic, environment-friendly, cos...

Globally, the demand for natural nutritional products is increasing with the rising population and health cautiousness among people. Since ancient times, plants have served as a nutritional source for humans and animals; besides, the advent of technologies revealed the potential of other biomass as dietary sources such as algae. Algae are considere...

Three different algal strains/consortia; Chlorella pyrenoidosa (CP), consortium of Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Phormidium (PA6) and consortium from Hauz Khas lake (HL), were studied for their potential in heavy metals' bioremediation. Batch experiments (HRT-6 days) were performed in two different modes of algae cultivation systems; suspension and att...

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of rice straw (RS) is considered the best route with its energy and resource recovery features. However, the excessive lignocellulosic content of RS curbs the biomethane potential during AD and dilutes its energy, environmental, and economic benefits. In this review, several strategies (pretreatment, co-digestion, trace ele...

The presence of toxic pollutants in wastewater is a matter of great concern, posing risk to environment and health. Generally, dyes and heavy metals are concomitant pollutants of wastewaters, associated with multiple diseases in humans. Various physical and chemical approaches of removing these contaminants have been in use, however biological appr...

The occurrence of emerging contaminants like pharmaceutical drugs and personal care products in aquatic systems is now being identified as a potential risk to human health. Since conventional wastewater treatment systems are unable to remove them sufficiently, high concentrations of some of the commonly used drugs are reported to be occurring in ma...

The biochemical composition of microalgae is significantly altered by growth conditions, thereby necessitating cultivation in precise culture conditions to synthesize biomass as feedstock for production of high-value compounds and biofuels. Nonetheless, culture conditions which promote rapid microalgal growth yields biomass with low concentrations...

The present research describes yeast assisted algal flocculation followed by evaluation of algae-yeast flocs for nutritional profile as potent food product. Co-flocculation of Chlorella pyrenoidosa using Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed 58.33±2.37% flocculation efficiency. Nutrient composition of algae-yeast flocs (CP-Y) depicted higher protein cont...

The marine microalga Tisochrysis lutea is renowned for its ability to synthesize fucoxanthin and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are nutritionally valuable high-value compounds. Although numerous studies in literature have assessed fucoxanthin and DHA production by T. lutea, very few studies have evaluated the feasibility of comprehensively utili...

Background Microalgae are well-established feedstocks for applications ranging from biofuels to valuable pigments and therapeutic proteins. However, the low biomass productivity using commercially available growth mediums is a roadblock for its mass production. This work describes a strategy to boost algal biomass productivity by using an effective...

In the past decade, biofilm reactors came out as the best algal cultivation strategy that provides high biomass yield with low harvesting cost. The substratum properties strongly determine the biomass yield during biofilm cultivation as it affects microalgae attachment and colonization. Most of the past research relates to substratum roughness opti...

Chlorpyrifos (O, O-diethyl O-3, 5, 6-trichloropyridin-2-yl phosphorothioate) is a toxic and chlorinated organic contaminant in soils across the globe. The present study examines the chlorpyrifos (CP) degrading potential of gram-negative bacterium Dyadobacter jiangsuensis (MTCC 12851), to be a promising and sustainable remedial approach. The prolife...

Desizing process in textile industry produces large volume of starch effluent. This carbon-rich waste can be used for resource recovery, such as the production of industrially useful enzymes. The present work assesses the usability of starch effluent from textile industry as an additional carbon source for enhanced production of α-amylase during so...

In the last few decades, there has been a surge in the hazardous chemicals contamination in the water bodies in various parts of India. Consequently, bioremediation of these hazardous chemicals by microorganisms has emerged as a lucrative option. Furthermore, advancement in the various physicochemical and robust molecular techniques such as 1D-SDS-...

Availability of decontaminated and clean water is one of the important requisites of the growing population around the globe. However, the fast-growing urbanization and expansion of industrialization along with excessive usage and consumption of chemical products for multiple purposes has increased the contamination level of available waterbodies a...

Soaring levels of wastewater discharge into the local water bodies and flue gas emissions into the atmospheric environment have emerged as a global challenge in the past few decades. Cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, uphold flair ability for the reclamation of these environmental matters of global concern. These microscopic photosy...

Nutrient composition and light stress significantly affect the productivity of astaxanthin in Haemotococcus pluvialis. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of initial phosphate concentration and two distinct light regimes on astaxanthin accumulation in H. pluvialis. In the green stage, microalgae were cultivated in different ini...

Marine-derived sulfated polysaccharides possess various antiviral activities against a broad range of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. It has become the potential source of antiviral drugs for pharmaceutical development. In this review, we will discuss the different types of sulfated polysaccharides and their structural classification. Some of...

Energy and nutrient recovery by anaerobic digestion of textile industry wastes (sludge) is facing challenges due to the anticipated toxicity, lower pH (6.6) and low C:N ratio (12.2). In the present study, the anaerobic co-digestion of textile aerobic sludge (ETP) generated in industry with different co-substrates (Food waste and Cow dung) was asses...

An on-site anaerobic biological reactor integrated with activated carbon filter (ACF) and ultra-filtration (UF) unit termed as AN-ACF-UF process was used for the decolourization of textile effluent at the industrial premises. The anaerobic reactor containing a microbial consortium enriched from the industrial effluent using a patented method was fe...

A field experiment was conducted from October, 2015 – March, 2017 to investigate the effects of drip irrigation with wastewater, and treated wastewater on crop quality at the 12-C Research farm of Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi. A bioreactor was installed at 12-C field for the purpose of cleaning the wastewater for the irrigation....

In the present study, Aspergillus fumigatus (Genbank accession no. KX365202), was used for heavy metal removal in a hexa-metal system containing mixture of six heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn). The total concentration of the heavy metals was kept at 30 mg L−1. The experimental sets were designed based on the relative abundance of the heavy...

Recovery of waste CO2 from flue gas involves two phase gas-liquid interactions for application in enhanced microalgal growth, CO2 bio-fixation and increased production of microalgal lipids for 4th generation biofuels. Mineralized CO2 as bicarbonate between pH 10 and 7 constitutes the major inorganic carbon for phototrophic microalgae. Consolidating...

Algae as an oxygenic photosynthetic organism of wide diversity produce similar metabolites as higher plants. The evolution of algae can be understood by the concept of origin of plastid through endosymbiosis event. It follows multiple phylogenetic lineages in its evolution to form various groups of algae that differs both in phenotypical and genoty...

A robust and efficient treatment process is required to address the problem of residual colour and avoid expensive post-treatment steps while dealing with textile effluents. In the present work, a novel microbial consortium enriched from textile effluent was used to optimize the process of decolourization under extreme conditions with minimum input...

Energy and nutrient recovery by anaerobic digestion of textile industry wastes (sludge) is facing challenges due to the anticipated toxicity, lower pH (6.6) and low C:N ratio (12.2). In the present study, the anaerobic co-digestion of textile aerobic sludge (ETP) generated in industry with different co-substrates (Food waste and Cow dung) was asses...

Disposal of metal contaminated biomass after bioremediation poses challenges due to non-availability of suitable techniques. In the present study, an attached algal biofilm reactor (ABR) of 3 L capacity was used for remediating six heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd) from a metal mix and subsequently the biomass after bioremediation was hydrot...

Background: Microalgae are well-established feedstocks for applications ranging from biofuels to valuable pigments and therapeutic proteins. However, the low biomass productivity using commercially available growth mediums is a roadblock for its mass production. This work describes a strategy to boost the algal biomass productivity by using an effe...

Background: Microalgae are well-established feedstocks for applications ranging from biofuels to valuable pigments and therapeutic proteins. However, the low biomass productivity using commercially available growth mediums is a roadblock for its mass production. This work describes a strategy to boost algal biomass productivity by using an effectiv...

Spherical silver nanoparticles of required size were synthesized employing a seed-mediated approach using leaf extract of Azadirachta indica. Reaction pH was used to manipulate the rate of reduction of the precursor salt for achieving a fast rate of reaction needed during the synthesis of silver nanoparticles seeds and a slower rate of reaction nee...

In the current manuscript, we explored the remediation potential of Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) by Gram-positive Microbacterium esteraromaticum 12849. The strain detoxified 70.9 and 63.93% RDX in minimal nutrient medium and soil, respectively. Subsequently, the strain 12849 was formulated in form of water-dispersible granules (WDG...

Background. Industries such as electroplating, mining and battery production are major sources of heavy metal-rich waste entering nearby water bodies. Irrigation with heavy metal contaminated water can deteriorate soil quality as well as agricultural produce and have further toxic effects on human health. Objectives. The objective of the present st...

The synthesis of nanoparticle using green approach is not only a simple process, but it is also an economical and ecofriendly way of obtaining variable shape and sized nanoparticles. The present study involves Carica papaya leaf extract for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Pa-AgNps). The UV-vis spectrum showed the absorbance peak of 468 nm. T...

Shortage of freshwater force farmers to use untreated wastewater for irrigation which leads to the accumulation of contaminants like heavy metals in the food chain and deteriorate the quality of produce and soil. Present study focused on bioremediation of multiple heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Cr, Zn. Pb and Ni) from wastewater used for irrigation of food...

Fungi have an exceptional capability to flourish in presence of heavy metals and pesticide. However, the cue for mycoremediation of pesticide (lindane) and multimetal (mixture of cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, zinc) by a fungus is little understood. In the present study, Aspergillus fumigatus, a filamentous fungus was found to accumulate...

Microalgae are recognized as a potential source of biomass for obtaining bioenergy. However, the lack of studies towards economic viability and environmental sustainability of the entire production chain limits its large-scale application. The use of wastewaters economizes natural resources used for algal biomass cultivation. However, desirable bio...

In spite of several studies on algal wastewater treatment, comparison of performances is difficult due to differences in parameters such as algal culture, wastewater, photobioreactor employed, temperature, light intensity etc. Keeping this in mind, present study was focused on phycoremediation potential of eleven algal cultures (seven isolated cult...

This study presents an extensive and detailed characterization of products from hydropyrolysis and anaerobic digestion to propose a multi-pathway assessment of algal biomass conversion. An algal biorefinery based on sequential Hydropyrolysis (HyPy) and anaerobic digestion (AD) of algal biofilm have been comprehensively studied for the first time. W...