review of the harvesting of micro-algae for biofuel production

Many researchers consider efficient harvesting is the major challenge of commercialising micro-algal biofuel. Although micro-algal biomass can be ‘energy rich’, the growth of algae in dilute suspension at around 0.02–0.05 % dry solids poses considerable challenges in achieving a viable energy balanc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reviews in environmental science and biotechnology 2013-06, Vol.12 (2), p.165-178
Main Authors: Milledge, John J, Heaven, Sonia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
algae culture
Algae harvesting
Algal growth
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Biodiesel fuels
Biofuels
Biomass
Biomass energy
Biotechnology
Centrifugation
Costs
Density
Dewatering
Earth and Environmental Science
Energy
Energy balance
Environment
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
environmental science
Flocculation
Flotation
fuel production
Fuels
Harvest
Harvesting
Methods
Microalgae
Microbiology
Moisture content
Plankton
Production methods
Reviews
Sedimentation
Sedimentation & deposition
Similarity
Studies
Velocity
Viscosity
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Summary:Many researchers consider efficient harvesting is the major challenge of commercialising micro-algal biofuel. Although micro-algal biomass can be ‘energy rich’, the growth of algae in dilute suspension at around 0.02–0.05 % dry solids poses considerable challenges in achieving a viable energy balance in micro-algal biofuel process operations. Additional challenges of micro-algae harvesting come from the small size of micro-algal cells, the similarity of density of the algal cells to the growth medium, the negative surface charge on the algae and the algal growth rates which require frequent harvesting compared to terrestrial plants. Algae can be harvested by a number of methods; sedimentation, flocculation, flotation, centrifugation and filtration or a combination of any of these. This paper reviews the various methods of harvesting and dewatering micro-algae for the production of biofuel. There appears to be no one method or combination of harvesting methods suited to all micro-algae and harvesting method will have a considerable influence on the design and operation of both upstream and downstream processes in an overall micro-algal biofuel production process.
ISSN:1569-1705
1572-9826
DOI:10.1007/s11157-012-9301-z