Improving the Energy Balance of Hydrocarbon Production Using an Inclined Solid–Liquid Separator with a Wedge-Wire Screen and Easy Hydrocarbon Recovery from Botryococcus braunii

Autor: Kenichi Furuhashi, Fumio Hasegawa, Manabu Yamauchi, Yutaka Kaizu, Kenji Imou
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Energies, Vol 13, Iss 16, p 4139 (2020)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 13164139
1996-1073
DOI: 10.3390/en13164139
Popis: The green colonial microalga Botryococcus braunii produces large amounts of hydrocarbons and has attracted attention as a potential source of biofuel. When this freshwater microalga is cultured in a brackish medium, the hydrocarbon recovery rate increases; furthermore, the colony size becomes large. In this study, the effects of such changes on the energy balance of harvesting and hydrocarbon recovery were studied via filtrate experiments on an inclined separator and extraction from a concentrated slurry. The inclined separator was effective for harvesting large-colony-forming algae. The water content on the wire screen of slit sizes larger than 150 µm was 85% could be achieved. The input energy of the harvesting using the brackish medium with this separator was ≈44% of that using the freshwater medium with vacuum filtration, while the input energy of the hydrocarbon recovery using the brackish medium was ≈88% of that using the freshwater medium with pre-heating before n-hexane extraction. Furthermore, the energy profit ratio of the process in the brackish medium was 2.92, which was ≈1.2 times higher than that in the freshwater medium. This study demonstrated that filtration techniques and hydrocarbon recovery from B. braunii with a low energy input through culture in a brackish medium are viable.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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