Harvesting Chaetoceros Calcitrans and Nannochloropsis sp. Via Electroflocculation

Abstract

The efficiency of harvesting the algal biomass plays a dominant role in the production of biodiesel from microalgae. On a commercial scale the choice and efficiency of the harvesting techniques may be a deciding factor for economic viability of this renewable energy source. The highly energy intensive centrifugation and filtration process are followed by flocculation for harvesting microalgae. Therefore the choice, cost and efficiency of the flocculating techniques can effectively lower the cost of harvesting and in turn minimize the cost of biodiesel production. This study aims to investigate the electroflocculation technique for harvesting microalgae under optimizing the operating parameters viz. voltage and current. Chaetoceros calcitrans and Nannochloropsis sp. were cultured and electrofloculated with a harvesting efficiency of 92 and 95% respectively at the optimum voltage and current.