Effectiveness of cationically modified cellulose polymers for dewatering algae |
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| Authors: | Matthew W Liberatore Brittany N Peterson Theresa Nottoli Joshua M McCulloch Robert E Jinkerson Nanette R Boyle |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USAmatthew.liberatore@utoledo.edu;3. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA;4. Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA |
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| Abstract: | A method to flocculate algal cultures of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using four different industrially produced polymers is presented. Starting with a 1 wt% stock polymer solution, flocculation times less than 60 min were observed for 0.1 to 0.6 g polymer per L of algae culture, while control samples took greater than 1400 min to flocculate. Cell counts showed that 99% of the cells were flocculated using the polymers compared to 73% for the control. Finally, the flocculation process was successful at both 5 and 40 mL batch sizes for one polymer; therefore, the method is efficient, effective and may be scalable. |
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| Keywords: | Algae flocculation polymers |
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