title: Rheological properties of algae slurries for minimizing harvesting energy requirements in biofuel production.
abstract: Rheological properties of microalgae slurries were measured as a function of biomass concentration from 0.5 to 80 kg/m(3) for Nannochloris sp., Chlorella vulgaris, and Phaeodactylum tricornutum. At biomass concentrations smaller than 20 kg/m(3), all slurries displayed a Newtonian fluid behavior with less than 30% increase in the effective viscosity from that of the nutrient medium. However, at biomass concentrations larger than 60 kg/m(3), the slurries of the green algae, Nannochloris sp. and C. vulgaris, displayed a shear thinning non-Newtonian behavior with varying degrees of sensitivity to shear rate while that of the diatom, P. tricornutum, was still a Newtonian fluid up to 80 kg/m(3). Moreover, bioenergy pumping effectiveness showed significant deviation among different species in the non-Newtonian regime. Finally, dewatering the slurries to concentration factors larger than 80 did not further increase the total bioenergy harvest effectiveness.
authors: Mechanical Engineering Department, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors: Angel
authors: A
authors: Wileman
authors: Altan
authors: A
authors: Ozkan
authors: Halil
authors: H
authors: Berberoglu
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels / Q000382:microbiology*; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017377:Diatoms / Q000502:physiology*; D004735:Energy Transfer; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D012722:Sewage