Recent progress in flocculation, dewatering, and drying technologies for microalgae utilization: Scalable and low-cost harvesting process development

Microalgal research has made significant progress in terms of the high-value-added industrial application of microalgal biomass and its derivatives. However, cost-effective techniques for producing, harvesting, and processing microalgal biomass on a large scale still need to be fully explored in order to optimize their performance and achieve commercial robustness. In particular, technologies for harvesting microalgae are critical in the practical process as they require excessive energy and equipment costs. This review focuses on microalgal flocculation, dewatering, and drying techniques and specifically covers the traditional approaches and recent technological progress in harvesting microalgal biomass. Several aspects, including the characteristics of the target microalgae and the type of final value-added products, must be considered when selecting the appropriate harvesting technique. Furthermore, considerable aspects and possible future directions in flocculation, dewatering, and drying steps are proposed to develop scalable and low-cost microalgal harvesting systems.

Automated summary

Research on microalgae has advanced in the high-value industrial application of microalgal biomass and its derivatives, but cost-effective techniques for producing, harvesting, and processing microalgal biomass on a large scale still need to be fully explored. Selecting the appropriate harvesting technique must consider the characteristics of the target microalgae and the type of final value-added products. Developing scalable and low-cost microalgal harvesting systems is crucial for future directions in flocculation, dewatering, and drying steps.