Evaluation of flocculants for the recovery of freshwater microalgae

Granados, M.R.; Acién, F.G.; Gómez-Serrano, Cintia; Sevilla, J. M. Fernández; Grima, E. Molina

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2012.05.018

Cited by 217 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Microalgal harvesting and thickening can be achieved by means of several techniques including coagulation-46 flocculation and sedimentation, flotation, centrifugation, magnetic separation and electrophoresis [3][4][5][6][7]. However, in the 47 context of wastewater treatment, only low-cost techniques capable of managing large volumes of water and biomass can 48 be applied, such as coagulation-flocculation followed by a solid/liquid separation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Harvesting microalgae from wastewater treatment systems with natural flocculants: Effect on biomass settling and biogas production

et al. 2015

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confidence: 99%

Harvesting microalgae from wastewater treatment systems with natural flocculants: Effect on biomass settling and biogas production

et al. 2015

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“…Several studies are available on the use of chemical flocculation using metal salts or polyelectrolytes (Gerde et al 2014;Granados et al 2012;Papazi et al 2010;Tenney et al 1969), pH induced flocculation (Vandamme et al 2012;Wu et al 2012;Zheng et al 2012), and bioflocculation using bacteria or filamentous fungi for biomass harvest (Zhou et al 2013). In electroflocculation, the flocculant is produced by releasing metal ions from a sacrificial electrode (Vandamme et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of voltage and electrode material on electroflocculation of Scenedesmus acuminatus

Bleeke

Quante

Winckelmann

et al. 2015

Bioresour. Bioprocess.

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Background: Microalgae are a promising new source for biomass production. One of the major challenges in regards to cost effectiveness is the biomass harvest. High energy input is required for the separation of the small algal cells from a large volume of surrounding media. Electroflocculation is reported as a promising harvesting technique to improve cost effectiveness within the downstream process. In the present study, six electrode materials were tested for electroflocculation of Scenedesmus acuminatus. Besides the commonly used aluminum and iron electrodes, magnesium, copper, zinc and brass electrodes were tested for biomass harvest and compared. The influence of four different voltages (10, 20, 30 and 40 V) was investigated and evaluated. Results:Electroflocculation was applicable with all tested electrode materials. The highest flocculation efficiency was achieved using magnesium electrodes followed by Al, Zn, Cu, Fe and brass. Using magnesium, 90% of the suspension was clarified at 40, 30, 20, and 10 V after 9.2, 12.5, 18.5, and 43 min, respectively. All electrode materials showed the fastest flocculation at 40 V and the lowest at 10 V. The pH increased from 7.5 to values between 9.3 and 11.9 during the flocculation processes. Reuse of the supernatant showed no adverse effect on algal growth. The highest cell counts after 12 days of incubation were achieved with iron at 1.86 × 10 7 cells ml −1 and the lowest with copper at 1.23 × 10 7 cells ml −1. Conclusion:Besides the commonly used iron and/or aluminum electrodes, other materials like magnesium, copper, zinc and brass can be successfully used for microalgal biomass harvest. For special biomass applications like food or feed additives, metals like magnesium have other advantages besides their high flocculation efficiency such as their low toxicity at high concentrations. Higher voltages increased the maximum flocculation efficiency but also increased the required energy input.

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“…However, despite the abundance of microalgae recovery studies for microalgal biomass recovery, there is no consensus on the most appropriate methodology for this process 9,10 . The coagulation-flocculation process, followed by sedimentation, has been the most widely adopted method because it has been shown to be economically viable for large production volumes of biomass 11,12 . The coagulation-flocculation process can promote microalgal aggregation by the addition of coagulants (electrolytes), which can be metal salts, natural or synthetic polymers, or through pH adjustment, providing floc formation which facilitates microalgal biomass sedimentation 13 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harvesting Microalgal Biomass grown in Anaerobic Sewage Treatment Effluent by the Coagulation-Flocculation Method: Effect of pH

Cassini

Francisco

Antunes

et al. 2017

Braz. arch. biol. technol.

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Evaluation of flocculants for the recovery of freshwater microalgae

Cited by 217 publications

References 21 publications

Harvesting microalgae from wastewater treatment systems with natural flocculants: Effect on biomass settling and biogas production

Harvesting microalgae from wastewater treatment systems with natural flocculants: Effect on biomass settling and biogas production

Effect of voltage and electrode material on electroflocculation of Scenedesmus acuminatus

Harvesting Microalgal Biomass grown in Anaerobic Sewage Treatment Effluent by the Coagulation-Flocculation Method: Effect of pH

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