Harvesting, Thickening and Dewatering Microalgae Biomass

  • Stephen L. Pahl
  • Andrew K. Lee
  • Theo Kalaitzidis
  • Peter J. Ashman
  • Suraj Sathe
  • David M. Lewis
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Developments in Applied Phycology book series (DAPH, volume 5)

Abstract

The recovery and processing of microalgae biomass from a culture media is an essential component for the production of almost all microalgae products. Microalgae recovery techniques can be used individually (single-stage) or in combination (multi-stage) and the choice is often dependent on the species of microalgae, desired product concentration and product quality. A wide range of solid-liquid separation techniques is available and this chapter compares the technologies and assess the technical and economic considerations for each option. The major challenge in selecting an appropriate technology for biofuels production from microalgae is that traditional microalgae concentration processes have generally used energy-intensive unit operations that are expensive.

Keywords

Extracellular Polymeric Substance Negative Surface Charge Microalgae Cell Tangential Flow Filtration Flotation Cell 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Stephen L. Pahl
    • 1
  • Andrew K. Lee
    • 1
  • Theo Kalaitzidis
    • 1
  • Peter J. Ashman
    • 1
  • Suraj Sathe
    • 1
  • David M. Lewis
    • 1
  1. 1.School of Chemical EngineeringThe University of AdelaideAdelaideAustralia

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