Lee Su-Jin, Choi Woo-Seok, Park Gun-Hoo, Kim Tae-Ho, Oh Chulhong, Heo Soo-Jin, Kang Do-Hyung
Jeju International Marine Science Research & Education Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province 63349, Republic of Korea.
Department of Marine Biology, Korea University of Science and Technology, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province 63349, Republic of Korea.
J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2018 Mar 28;28(3):432-438. doi: 10.4014/jmb.1709.09040.
Microalgae hold promise as a renewable energy source for the production of biofuel, as they can convert light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis. However, cost-efficient harvest of microalgae remains a major challenge to commercial-scale algal biofuel production. We first investigated the potential of electrolytic water as a flocculant for harvesting sp. Alkaline electrolyzed water (AEW) is produced at the cathode through water electrolysis. It contains mineral ions such as Na, K, Ca, and Mg that can act as flocculants. The flocculation activity with AEW was evaluated via culture density, AEW concentration, medium pH, settling time, and ionic strength analyses. The flocculation efficiency was 88.7% at 20% AEW (pH 8, 10 min) with a biomass concentration of 2 g/l. The initial biomass concentration and medium pH had significant influences on the flocculation activity of AEW. A viability test of flocculated microalgal cells was conducted using Evans blue stain, and the cells appeared intact. Furthermore, the growth rate of sp. in recycled flocculation medium was similar to the growth rate in fresh F/2 medium. Our results suggested that AEW flocculation could be a very useful and affordable methodology for fresh biomass harvesting with environmentally friendly easy operation in part of the algal biofuel production process.
微藻有望成为生产生物燃料的可再生能源，因为它们可以通过光合作用将光能转化为化学能。然而，以具有成本效益的方式收获微藻仍然是大规模藻类生物燃料生产面临的一项重大挑战。我们首先研究了电解水作为絮凝剂用于收获[藻种名称]的潜力。碱性电解水（AEW）是通过水电解在阴极产生的。它含有诸如Na、K、Ca和Mg等矿物质离子，这些离子可以作为絮凝剂。通过培养密度、AEW浓度、培养基pH值、沉降时间和离子强度分析评估了AEW的絮凝活性。在生物量浓度为2 g/l时，20% AEW（pH 8，10分钟）下的絮凝效率为88.7%。初始生物量浓度和培养基pH值对AEW的絮凝活性有显著影响。使用伊文思蓝染色对絮凝的微藻细胞进行活力测试，细胞看起来完好无损。此外，[藻种名称]在循环絮凝培养基中的生长速率与在新鲜F/2培养基中的生长速率相似。我们的结果表明，在部分藻类生物燃料生产过程中，AEW絮凝可能是一种非常有用且经济实惠的方法，用于收获新鲜生物质，操作简便且环保。
