| 초록 |
Recently, there has been increasing interest for production of biofuels from algae biomass as raw material. Owning to small size and low concentration of microalgae, harvesting of microalgae is major challenge and requires high-energy input for harvesting biomass. In order to make commercial microalgal biodiesel production economically feasible, cost effective dewatering techniques are necessary. In this study, we evaluated the potential of chitosan as a flocculant for harvesting microalgae. Chitosan was found to be efficient flocculant for harvesting freshwater microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. Chitosan was effective in pH ranging from 4 to 8. The optimal chitosan concentration required to effect maximum flocculation depended on the pH of solution, concentration of algal cells, ionic strength, and culture volume. For effective flocculation, lowest amount of chitosan concentration (7 mg) was obtained with 90% recovery efficiency at pH 6.3. |
