Our Laboratory is pleased to announce its new publication in the international scientific journal Scientific Reports, part of the Nature Portfolio.
Scientific Reports is an open-access Q1 journal with a 2025 Impact Factor of 4.9 and is currently the 2nd most-cited journal in the world, with more than 1,061,000 citations in 2025, according to the 2025 Journal Citation Reports®.
Malletzidou, L., Kyratzopoulou, E., Nerantzis, E., Kazakis, N.A., 2026. Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis show distinct removal dynamics for multiple heavy metals in real water matrices. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-71494-2
The publication was prepared following an invitation to contribute to the Scientific Reports Collection “Algae as bioremediation for pollution”, dedicated to the use of microalgae and macroalgae as sustainable, nature-based solutions for pollution control and environmental remediation.
The publication presents results from the research project:
The study investigates the ability of two living microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis, to remove multiple heavy metals from real water matrices under challenging contamination conditions. River water, lake water, and fish-processing wastewater were exposed to a mixture of Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Cu²⁺, simulating complex high-load contamination scenarios.
The experimental work combined 30 L photobioreactor cultivation, physicochemical monitoring, biomass and chlorophyll measurements, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, kinetic modelling, and interpretable machine learning using Gaussian Process Regression, XGBoost, and SHAP analysis.
The results revealed clearly different, species- and matrix-dependent removal dynamics. Chlorella vulgaris generally showed more stable and progressive removal, whereas Arthrospira platensis exhibited faster and more variable responses, achieving removal efficiencies of up to 98.1% for Cd²⁺ in fish-processing wastewater and 95.1% for Cu²⁺ in lake water.
The study demonstrates the potential of living microalgal cultures for multi-metal bioremediation under realistic aquatic conditions, while highlighting the value of combining experimental analysis, spectroscopy, kinetic modelling, and artificial intelligence to better understand complex environmental bioprocesses.
The publication further strengthens the contribution of the Laboratory of Archaeometry and Physicochemical Measurements to the development of sustainable environmental technologies integrating microalgal bioprocesses, advanced physicochemical analysis, and artificial intelligence.