Energy requirements and economic analysis of a full-scale microbial flocculation system for microalgal harvesting
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2010
Authors
Lee, A.
Lewis, D.
Ashman, P.
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Journal article
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Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2010; 88(8):988-996
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Andrew K. Lee, David M. Lewis and Peter J. Ashman
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Abstract
Certain strains of microalgae have high lipid yields and appear to be good choices for the production of biodiesel, however, one of the major difficulties is the lack of a large-scale cost effective harvesting technique. Microbial flocculation has the potential to provide a solution without the use of contaminating metallic ions such as Al<sup>3+</sup>. However, such flocculation would require the mixing of mega- or even giga-litres of microalgal culture on a daily basis and therefore it is important to estimate the energy required. By incorporating a baffled hydraulic flocculator into a proposed large scale system that was designed on the basis of laboratory data, the mixing energy required for the flocculation is estimated to be equivalent to 0.893kWh per 10<sup>3</sup>kg of dry mass flocculated, the overall cost of the process is A$ 0.13m<sup>-3</sup> of the culture medium and the net footprint area of the flocculating system is 0.7% of the proposed 1km<sup>2</sup> high rate algal pond. © 2010 The Institution of Chemical Engineers.
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Copyright © 2010 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. All rights reserved.