Journal
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
Volume 252, Issue -, Pages 91-99Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.065
Keywords
Tetraselmis suecica; Phaeodactylum tricornutum; Selective separation; Spiral microchannel
Funding
- Research Foundation - Flanders Belgium [FWO - 12D8917N]
- Australian Research Council [ARC - DE160100131, DP170103704]
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Microalgae represent the most promising new source of biomass for the world's growing demands. However, the biomass productivity and quality is significantly decreased by the presence of bacteria or other invading microalgae species in the cultures. We therefore report a low-cost spiral-microchannel that can effectively separate and purify Tetraselmis suecica (lipid-rich microalgae) cultures from Phaeodactylum tricornutum (invasive diatom). Fluorescent polystyrene-microbeads of 6 mu m and 10 mu m diameters were first used as surrogate particles to optimize the microchannel design by mimicking the microalgae cell behaviour. Using the optimum flowrate, up to 95% of the P. tricornutum cells were separated from the culture without affecting the cell viability. This study shows, for the first time, the potential of inertial microfluidics to sort microalgae species with minimal size difference. Additionally, this approach can also be applied as a pre-sorting technique for water quality analysis.
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