1.6 Hydrodynamic Fluidic Devices
At the Palo Alto Research Center, a hydrodynamic, fluid segregation method was
developed; fluidic shear was the main basis as the culture stream flows through a
curved form in the fluidic unit shown in Fig. 1.10. This device is a curved channel
over which the culture is strapped, dragging from the channel walls exercises forces
separating particles from the suspended solution such that separated condensed and
diluted streams come out toward the end of the separator. The machine can operate
uninterruptedly, does not require any filters, is normally wide enough to prevent
fouling and does not need extra resources for parting. They also showed an assistance from the usage of flocculants with tiny algae though this process. Due to the
vast scale of the fluid channels, a system like this would also have little or no fouling.
1.7 Direct Biofuel Production from Algae
Other fuels can be obtained directly from algae aside from separating the lipids to
make diesel fuel. Those involve alcohols including butanol, ethanol, and hydrogen
along with methane. Alcohols may be derived through algae using heterotrophic
(carbon nutrients obtained from bio-materials), through fermenting starch into alcohols, like ethanol along with butanol. Chlorella vulgaris and Chlamydomonas
perigramulata are marine algae which are used for this. Procedures involve the
accumulation of starch through photosynthesis, subsequent anaerobic fermentation
for the processing of alcohol under dark conditions, and alcohol extracted straight
from algal culture media. Photo fermentation and dark fermentation directly from the
algae also produce hydrogen. Methane can be generated through anaerobic algal
conversion. It may be united with other procedures (e.g., use the residue after
extracting lipids). Encounters include high biomass content of protein, which in
turn lead to inhibition of NH3 and could be resolved by co-digestion by high carbon
co-substrate.
BUFFER
SOLUTION
CELLS
SUSPENSION
Fig. 1.10 Operation principle for the hydrodynamic separation (Torino et al. 2017)
1 Downstream Processing of Biofuels
29
At the Palo Alto Research Center, a hydrodynamic, fluid segregation method was
developed; fluidic shear was the main basis as the culture stream flows through a
curved form in the fluidic unit shown in Fig. 1.10. This device is a curved channel
over which the culture is strapped, dragging from the channel walls exercises forces
separating particles from the suspended solution such that separated condensed and
diluted streams come out toward the end of the separator. The machine can operate
uninterruptedly, does not require any filters, is normally wide enough to prevent
fouling and does not need extra resources for parting. They also showed an assistance from the usage of flocculants with tiny algae though this process. Due to the
vast scale of the fluid channels, a system like this would also have little or no fouling.
1.7 Direct Biofuel Production from Algae
Other fuels can be obtained directly from algae aside from separating the lipids to
make diesel fuel. Those involve alcohols including butanol, ethanol, and hydrogen
along with methane. Alcohols may be derived through algae using heterotrophic
(carbon nutrients obtained from bio-materials), through fermenting starch into alcohols, like ethanol along with butanol. Chlorella vulgaris and Chlamydomonas
perigramulata are marine algae which are used for this. Procedures involve the
accumulation of starch through photosynthesis, subsequent anaerobic fermentation
for the processing of alcohol under dark conditions, and alcohol extracted straight
from algal culture media. Photo fermentation and dark fermentation directly from the
algae also produce hydrogen. Methane can be generated through anaerobic algal
conversion. It may be united with other procedures (e.g., use the residue after
extracting lipids). Encounters include high biomass content of protein, which in
turn lead to inhibition of NH3 and could be resolved by co-digestion by high carbon
co-substrate.
BUFFER
SOLUTION
CELLS
SUSPENSION
Fig. 1.10 Operation principle for the hydrodynamic separation (Torino et al. 2017)
1 Downstream Processing of Biofuels
29