Advances and Challenges on Algae Harvesting and Drying

Abstract

Biodiesel production from algae offers a promising prospect for practical applications among the still developing biofuel technologies. The fact that algae are capable of producing much more yield provides an edge over other types of biofuel. Though algal biofuel research is still developing and its practical application is yet to be ascertained, promising work on laboratory-and pilot-scale algae harvesting systems has been extensively reported. Because algae harvesting and drying are vital elements in biofuel production, recent advances on various algae harvesting, dewatering, and drying technologies are reviewed and discussed. Challenges and prospects of algae harvesting and drying are also outlined.

Application of membrane dewatering for algal biofuel

“…In recent years, a number of review studies focusing solely or partly on algae dewatering have been published [9,10,22,25,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Many of these studies outline potential algae dewatering technologies and investigate their efficiencies in terms of cost and energy consumption; however, limited discussion has been provided on the current research and issues related to using membrane filtration as a means of algae dewatering [9,10,22,31,33,34].…”

Thermogravimetric analysis of the combustion of marine microalgae Spirulina platensis and its blend with synthetic waste

“…If direct combustion is selected as a technique for thermochemical conversion, then it is only feasible with biomass material that has a moisture content of less than 50% [ 11 ]. Many researchers have tried to address this inherent drawback [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Although water removal from algae biomass is yet to achieve an economically reasonable cost, studying the high-quality and valuable fuels generated from microalgae species is still beneficial.…”

Optimization of polyurethane foam cube in enhancing the attachment of microalgae biomass

“…Although intensive researches on the microalgae-derived biofuels had been made, the commercial production system is still unable to achieve economic viability due to the expensive harvesting method [5]. In this case, extensive time and energy are required to handle large feedstock volumes during the harvesting stage, leading to the production of low value products such as biodiesel [6].…”