title: Vibrating membrane filtration as improved technology for microalgae dewatering.
abstract: The effect of shear-enhanced filtration by vibratory process in microalgae dewatering is presented in this paper. The aim of this research was to investigate the technical performance and improvement of vibrating membrane filtration compared with conventional tangential cross-flow filtration in microalgae concentration. An industrial-scale available commercial set-up was used. Several membrane materials as polyethersulfone, polyacrylonitrile, etc., and mean pore sizes (from 7000Da to 0.2μm) were tested and compared in both filtration set-ups. Experiments were carried-out with Nannochloropsis gaditana and Phaeodactylum tricornutum microalgae. It has been demonstrated that, even if the choice of the membrane depends on its cut-off, its material and the type of microalgae filtrated, dynamic filtration is always the best technology over a conventional one. If with conventional filtration permeability values were in the vicinity of 10L/h/m(2)/bar in steady state phase, with dynamic filtration these values increased to 30L/h/m(2)/bar or more.
authors.affiliation: Bioenergy and Biofuels Division, Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, IREC, C/Marcel·lí Domingo, 2, 43007 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain; Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Països Catalans, 26, 43007 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nurra
authors.affiliation: Bioenergy and Biofuels Division, Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, IREC, C/Marcel·lí Domingo, 2, 43007 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Ester
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Clavero
authors.affiliation: Bioenergy and Biofuels Division, Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, IREC, C/Marcel·lí Domingo, 2, 43007 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain; Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Països Catalans, 26, 43007 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salvadó
authors.affiliation: Bioenergy and Biofuels Division, Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, IREC, C/Marcel·lí Domingo, 2, 43007 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. Electronic address: ctorras@irec.cat.
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torras
mesh_terms: D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007526:Isoelectric Point; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D058086:Microalgae / Q000378:metabolism*; D010539:Permeability; D010865:Pilot Projects; D055672:Static Electricity; D014732:Vibration; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial
keywords: Dewatering; Dynamic membrane filtration; Microalgae