title: Magnetophoretic harvesting of oleaginous Chlorella sp. by using biocompatible chitosan/magnetic nanoparticle composites.
abstract: The consumption of energy and resources such as water in the cultivation and harvesting steps should be minimized to reduce the overall cost of biodiesel production from microalgae. Here we present a biocompatible and rapid magnetophoretic harvesting process of oleaginous microalgae by using chitosan-Fe3O4 nanoparticle composites. Over 99% of microalgae was harvested by using the composites and the external magnetic field without changing the pH of culture medium so that it may be reused for microalgal culture without adverse effect on the cell growth. Depending on the working volume (20-500 mL) and the strength of surface magnetic-field (3400-9200 G), the process of harvesting microalgae took only 2-5 min. The method presented here not only utilizes permanent magnets without additional energy for fast harvesting but also recycles the medium effectively for further cultivation of microalgae, looking ahead to a large scale economic microalgae-based biorefinement.
authors.affiliation: Clean Fuel Department, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 152 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-343, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kyubock
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: So Yeun
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jeong-Geol
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Na
authors.forename: Sang Goo
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Ramasamy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Praveenkumar
authors.forename: Dong-Myung
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Won-Seok
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: You-Kwan
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002708:Chlorella / Q000254:growth & development*; D007700:Kinetics; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D008280:Magnetics / Q000379:methods*; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D008055:Lipids; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: Chitosan; Harvesting; Magnetic nanoparticle; Medium recycling; Microalgae