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Updated: Jun 24, 2025
Procedure to Evaluate the Efficiency of Flocculants for the Removal of Dispersed Particles from Plant Extracts
Published on: April 9, 2016
Performance evaluation of typical flocculants for efficient harvesting of Chlorella sorokiniana under different
Dian Dai1, Ruoting Gu1, Mingxiang Qv1
1School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Biomass-Resources Chemistry and Environmental Biotechnology, and Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Sustainable Resource and Energy, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China.
Abstract:
In this study, the growth characteristics of microalgae cultured with different carbon sources were analyzed, and the flocculation characteristics under the influence of carbon sources were evaluated using three typical flocculants. The results showed that the organic carbon sources could significantly increase the content of extracellular proteins in microalgae. Specifically, the extracellular protein concentrations of microalgae cultured with pure BG-11, ethanol, sodium acetate and glucose were 18.2 29.2, 97.3, and 34.7 mg/g, respectively. During the flocculation process, microalgae cultured with sodium acetate exhibited a weak response to the flocculant because of excessive extracellular proteins inhibited flocculation. In addition, the flocculation efficiency was also less than 50.0% cultured with sodium acetate in all pH test ranges when alum and chitosan were used as flocculants. It could be inferred that the flocculant initially happened to charge neutralization with the negatively charged proteins in the solution and then bridged the charges with the microalgae. These findings provide insights into the effects of different carbon sources on microalgal flocculation, promising organic integration of microalgae wastewater treatment and harvesting.
