Harvesting of Nannochloropsis oculata by chemical flocculation

Xavier, Biji and Ranjan, Ritesh and Megarajan, Sekhar and Balla, Vamsi and Loka, Jayasree and Ghosh, Shubhadeep and Joseph, Shoji and Bhatt, Jayashree (2022) Harvesting of Nannochloropsis oculata by chemical flocculation. Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series (252). pp. 30-31. ISSN 0254-380X

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Abstract

Microalgae culture forms an inevitable component in aquaculture and mass culture on a commercial scale is essential to satisfy requirement in the hatchery for use as functional foods and nutraceuticals. However, the current microalgal production technologies are not costeffective and face several bottlenecks, among which is the harvesting of microalgal biomass. Typical strategies currently applied for harvesting microalgae include centrifugation, filtration, various forms of flocculation (e.g., chemical inorganic and organic agents, alkaline flocculation, bio-flocculation using microorganisms, and electro-coagulation), sedimentation, and flotation. Among these harvesting methods, flocculation combined with sedimentation of microalgal flocs is considered best with reported cell recovery of > 90% and with low cost. However, the biomass thus recovered with chemical flocculant may cause harm to the final product but it is still regarded as a promising technique. In the present study, the flocculation efficiency of ZnCl2 and ZnSO4 were tested as chemical flocculants for the harvest of Nannochloropsis oculata.

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