Abstract:
One of the important bottle-necks in production of
microalgae based biodiesel is the
lack of an efficient method for harvesting of micro
algae from the culture medium. In this
study, the electroflocculation method was developed
for harvesting of microalgae
Dunaliella
cells from culture medium. The effect of several p
arameters such as the
current density, electrical conductivity of culture
medium, time, electrode gap, and
electrode type on harvesting efficiency and energy
consumption were also determined.
The maximum harvesting efficiency of this method wa
s 97.44%
at
EC=
1.35 S m
-1
and
current density of 90 A m
-2
during 3 minutes electroflocculation process in a
300 ml
beaker. The maximum efficiency was achieved by alum
inum electrodes with 1 cm
distance between electrodes and the maximum energy
consumption for this practice was
0.621 kW h m
-3
. It was concluded that electroflocculation is an e
fficient and cost effective
method for microalgae harvesting.
Keywords:
Biodiesel, Cell coagulation, Dewatering, Harvestin
g Efficiency, Microalgae
harvesting.
