Influence of Algal Strain on Permeate Flux Rate in Crossflow Microfiltration
The separation of microalgae from a culture medium is a major cost and energy hurdle for the efficient production of algal biomass. Crossflow microfiltration has been found to be promising for the algal cell concentration process. Three algal strains with different cell sizes and morphology, namely...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Phycology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9410/5/2/18 |
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| Summary: | The separation of microalgae from a culture medium is a major cost and energy hurdle for the efficient production of algal biomass. Crossflow microfiltration has been found to be promising for the algal cell concentration process. Three algal strains with different cell sizes and morphology, namely <i>Chlorella vulgaris</i>, <i>Nannochloris</i> sp., and <i>Scenedesmus</i> sp., were studied. Analysis of the culture suspensions showed very different particle size distributions for the selected strains due to cell clustering. For a given membrane under the same operational conditions to achieve an equal volumetric reduction factor, <i>Nannochloris</i> sp., with the biggest particles and smallest cells, demonstrated the highest permeation flux, and in the same order of the particle sizes, it was followed by <i>Chlorella vu.</i> and <i>Scenedesmus</i> sp. For all the selected algal species, the highest dewatering rate (176–303 L/m<sup>2</sup>·h) was obtained by means of the membrane with the smallest pore size of 0.05 µm. |
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| ISSN: | 2673-9410 |