Publication
Title
Implementation of flocculation and sand filtration in medium recirculation in a closed microalgae production system
Author
Abstract
Recycling growth medium is a necessity to reduce production cost and ecological foot print of large scale microalgae production systems. To prevent contamination and/or enrichment with particulate matter, medium recycling requires pre-treatment of the centrifuge supernatant (centrate), prior to medium replenishment and re-use. In this study, we investigated the applicability of high pH induced flocculation and/or sand filtration to interface with an existing microfiltration setup in order to prepare recycled growth medium for the mass cultivation of marine microalgae. Sand filtration partly alleviated the burden on subsequent microfiltration, but proved to be particularly useful to remove high pH induced flocs from the centrate. Combination of both techniques resulted in a removal of 78 +/- 18% of particles, resulting in an improvement of 'modified fouling indices' by 75 +/- 19%. Despite a partial to complete removal of remaining nutrients such as phosphate, calcium and magnesium during treatment, a cost saving of 72% compared to a scenario with fresh medium can be achieved. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Algal Research
Publication
2016
ISSN
2211-9264
DOI
10.1016/J.ALGAL.2015.11.016
Volume/pages
13 (2016) , p. 116-125
ISI
000370183100013
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 08.01.2016
Last edited 09.10.2023
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