Microalgae have been considered as an efficient microorganism for wastewater treatment with simultaneously bioenergy and high value-added compounds production. However

the high energy cost associated with complicated biorefinery (

e.g

. microalgae cultivation

harvesting

drying

extraction

conversion

and purification) is a critical challenge that inhibits its large-scale application. Among different nutrition (

e.g

. carbon

nitrogen and phosphorous) sources

food processing wastewater is a relative safe and suitable one for microalgae cultivation due to its high organic content and low toxicity. In this review

the characteristic of different food wastewater is summarized and compared. The potential routes of value-added products (i.e. biofuel

pigment

polysaccharide

and amino acid) production along with wastewater purification are introduced. The existing challenges (

e.g

. biorefinery cost

efficiency and mechanism) of microalgal-based wastewater treatment are also discussed. The prospective of microalgae-based food processing wastewater treatment strategies (such as microalgae-bacteria consortium

poly-generation of bioenergy and value-added products) is forecasted. It can be observed that

food wastewater treatment by microalgae could be a promising strategy to commercially realize waste source reduce

conversion and reutilization.