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Rheological properties of suspensions of the green microalga Chlorella vulgaris at various volume fractions

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Abstract

A systematic study of the rheological properties of solutions of non-motile microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris CCAP 211-19) in a wide range of volume fractions is presented. As the volume fraction is gradually increased, several rheological regimes are observed. At low volume fractions (but yet beyond the Einstein diluted limit), the suspensions display a Newtonian rheological behaviour and the volume fraction dependence of the viscosity can be well described by the Quemada model (Quemada, Eur Phys J Appl Phys 1:119–127, 1997). For intermediate values of the volume fraction, a shear thinning behaviour is observed and the volume fraction dependence of the viscosity can be described by the Simha model (Simha, J Appl Phys 23:1020–1024, 1952). For the largest values of the volume fraction investigated, an apparent yield stress behaviour is observed. Increasing and decreasing stress ramps within this range of volume fractions indicate a thixotropic behaviour as well. The rheological behaviour observed within the high concentration regime bears similarities with the measurements performed by Heymann and Aksel (Phys Rev E 75:021505, 2007) on polymethyl methacrylate suspensions: irreversible flow behaviour (upon increasing/decreasing stresses) and dependence of the flow curve on the characteristic time of forcing (the averaging time per stress values). All these findings indicate a behaviour of the microalgae suspensions similar to that of suspensions of rigid particles. A deeper insight into the physical mechanisms underlying the shear thinning and the apparent yield stress regime is obtained by an in situ analysis of the microscopic flow of the suspension under shear. The shear thinning regime is associated to the formation of cell aggregates (flocs). Based on the Voronoi analysis of the correlation between the cell distribution and cell sizes, we suggest that the repulsive electrostatic interactions are responsible for this microscale organisation. The apparent yield stress regime originates in the formation of large-scale cell aggregates which behave as rigid plugs leading to a maximally random jammed state.

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Notes

  1. We note that this regime is yet beyond the Einstein’s ultra-dilute limit which was of no particular interest to the present study.

  2. Note that this strongly inhomogeneous flow field significantly departs from the analytical solution of a cone–plate rheometric flow which allows the accurate conversion of the measured torque (T) and angular speeds (\(\Omega \)) into stresses (\(\tau \)) and rates of shear (\(\dot {\gamma }\)).

  3. Note that if one takes into account the measured average cell radius and its standard deviation, one obtains \(t_{\mathrm {br}} \in \left [16.4, 65.7 \right ]\) s (see Fig. 1 and the discussion in Section “Preparation of the Chlorella microalgae suspensions”).

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Acknowledgments

The project was supported by the Pôle Émergent pour la Recherche Ligèrienne en Énergie (PERLE2) program funded by the Pays de la Loire District, France. We gratefully acknowledge the technical support of Dr. Philippe Sierro and Mr. Etienne Roussel from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Karlsruhe, Germany for the calibration of the nano-torque module installed on the MARS III rheometer and for the optimisation of the RheoScope module. T. B. gratefully acknowledges the enlightening discussions with Miguel Moyers-Gonzalez. A. S. , J. P. and J. L. are grateful to M. Frappart for providing a large quantity of algae suspensions and to D. Grizeau for his precious insights on the algae structure. Last but not least, we are particularly indebted to the anonymous referees for their enlightening comments, remarks and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GEPEA UMR-6144, LUNAM Université—Université de Nantes and CNRS, Bd. de l’Université, CRTT-BP 406, 44602, Saint-Nazaire Cedex, France

    Antoine Souliès, Jeremy Pruvost & Jack Legrand

  2. UMR 6607, Laboratoire de Thermocinétique, LUNAM Université—Université de Nantes and CNRS, La Chantrerie, Rue Christian Pauc, B.P. 50609, 44306, Nantes Cedex 3, France

    Cathy Castelain & Teodor I. Burghelea

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  1. Antoine Souliès
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Correspondence to Teodor I. Burghelea.

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Souliès, A., Pruvost, J., Legrand, J. et al. Rheological properties of suspensions of the green microalga Chlorella vulgaris at various volume fractions. Rheol Acta 52, 589–605 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-013-0700-z

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