Study on a novel omnidirectional ultrasonic cavitation removal system for Microcystis aeruginosa

Microcystis aeruginosa, as a typical alga, produces microcystin with strong liver toxicity, seriously endangering the liver health of human and animals. Inhibiting the bloom of the Microcystis aeruginosa in lakes becomes a significant and meaningful work. Ultrasonic cavitation is currently considered to be the most environmentally friendly and effective method for the removal of Microcystis aeruginosa. However, the commercialized ultrasonic algae removal systems require multi-Langevin transducers to achieve omnidirectional ultrasonic irradiation due to the single irradiation direction of the Langevin transducer, resulting in the complex design and high energy consumption. To achieve a low-cost, simple structure, and high-efficiency algae removal system, a novel omnidirectional ultrasonic cavitation removal system for Microcystis aeruginosa is proposed. The proposed system is major composed of a novel omnidirectional ultrasonic transducer, which generates the omnidirectional ultrasonic irradiation by its shaking-head motion coupled by two orthogonal bending vibration modes. Modal simulation, sound field simulation, and cavitation bubble radius simulation are first carried out to optimize the geometric sizes of the proposed transducer and verify the correctness of the omnidirectional ultrasonic irradiation principle. Then the vibration characteristics of the transducer prototype are measured by vibration tests and impedance tests. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed omnidirectional ultrasonic removal system for Microcystis aeruginosa are evaluated through the algae removal experiments. The experimental results exhibit that the algal cells damaged by ultrasonic irradiation from the proposed system do not have the ability to self-repair. In addition, the algal removal rates reached 55.41% and 72.97% after 30 min of ultrasonic treatment when the corresponding ultrasonic densities are 0.014 W/mL and 0.021 W/mL, respectively. The proposed omnidirectional ultrasonic algae removal system significantly simplifies the configuration and reduces energy consumption, presenting the potential promise of algae removal and environmental protection.

Automated summary

Microcystis aeruginosa, a harmful alga, can produce toxins that are extremely toxic to the liver. Ultrasonic cavitation has been considered as an effective method for removing Microcystis aeruginosa. However, current commercial ultrasonic algae removal systems require complex design and consume high energy. To address this, a novel omnidirectional ultrasonic cavitation removal system is proposed, which simplifies the configuration and reduces energy consumption. Experimental results show that the proposed system effectively damages the algal cells and achieves high removal rates.