Biofuel is one of the renewable energy resources alternatives to fossil fuels \[1\]. Among various sources for biofuels, microalgae provide at least three-orders-of-magnitude higher production rate of biodiesel at a given land area than conventional crop-based methods. However, microalgal biodiesel still suffers from significantly lower harvesting efficiency, making such a fuel less competitive. To increase the separation efficiency of microalgae from cultivation solution, we used a spiral microchannel that enables the isolation of biofuel-algae particles from water and contaminants contained in the culturing solution. Our preliminary data show that separation performance in the microfluidic centrifugal separator is as high as 88% within a quick separation time of 30 seconds. To optimize separation performance, multiple parameters of algae behaviors and separation techniques were studied and were manipulated to achieve better performance. We found that changing these factors altered the separation performance by increasing or decreasing flocculation, or “clumping” of the microalgae within the microchannels. The important characteristics of the separator geometry, fluid properties, and environmental conditions on algae separation was found and will be further studied in the forthcoming tests. This introductory study reveals that there is an opportunity to improve the currently low efficiency of algae separation in centrifugal systems using much smaller designs in size, ensuring a much more efficient algae harvesting.


Microalgae Harvesting in a Microfluidic Centrifugal Separator for Enchanced Biofuel Production

Division / Sponsors: 
Heat Transfer Division (HTD), Fluids Engineering Division (FED)

Heat Transfer Summer Conference
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/HT/HT2020/volume/83709

18th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ICNMM/ICNMM2020/volume/83693

Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/FEDSM/FEDSM2020/volume/83716

HT-ICNMM2020 - Virtual Conference, SHTC - Virtual Conference, FEDSM2020 - Virtual Conference

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