• Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.99-104
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of forward osmosis (FO) system for harvesting microalgae cultivated in secondary sewage effluent. Microalgae species used in this study were chlorella sp. ADE4. The drawing agents used for forward osmosis system were seawater and concentrate of sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) system. Chlorella sp. ADE4 cultured in secondary sewage effluent illustrated moderate efficiency in removal of total nitrogen (TN) (68%) and superior performance in total phosphorus (TP) removal (99%). Comparison of seawater and SWRO concentrate as drawing agent were made in FO membrane separation of the microalgae. The result from this study depicts that SWRO concentrate is strong drawing agent in FO membrane system providing an average dewatering rate of $4.8L/(m^2{\cdot}hr)$ compared to seawater with average dewatering of $2.9L/(m^2{\cdot}hr)$. Results obtained from this study indicated that FO system could be viable option for harvesting the microalgae for further biodiesel production. SWRO concentrate as a drawing agent could be very important finding in field of membrane technology for disposal of SWRO concentrate.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.35-40
• /
• 2009

The trumpet shell Charonia sauliae is an endangered and valuable species with potential for aquaculture. For artificial propagation of C. sauliae, the effects of three different food microalgae on the development, growth, and survival rate of the larvae and spat were investigated. For the larval feeding experiments, we utilized six microalgae species as food sources, namely Pavlova lutheri, Tetraselmis suecica, Nannochloris oculata, Isochrysis galbana, Chaetoceros calcitrans, and Phaeodactylum tricornutum; for the larval and spat growth and survival experiments, we utilized T. suecica, C. calcitrans, and P. tricornutum. The results showed that the temporal digestion index (TDI) for the veliger larvae was significantly different for C. sauliae fed the different microalgae species (p < 0.05), that the T. suecica, C. calcitrans, and P. tricornutum cultivars were better suited for larval consumption (p < 0.05), and that the growth and survival of the larvae and spat were significantly influenced by food type, specifically P. tricornutum (p < 0.05). Further research is needed to evaluate the effects of other microalgae species, different algal concentrations, and biochemical composition on the growth and survival of C. sauliae.

• Journal of Aquaculture
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.81-91
• /
• 1992

The cultivation of marine microalgae as a live feed is essential for the seedling production of marine animals. It has some technical problems. Of these, the isolation and maintenance of the pure strains of microalgae from the nature are difficult for general mariculturists and researchers. To meet these problems, it needs to establish the culture collection of the microalgae in order to supply the strains to the demanders. In this research, 80 strains of microalgae were isolated from the coastal water of Korea by the methods of capillary pipette, plating on agar and dillution. A culture collection was established in the Department of Aquaculture, National Fisheries University of Pusan. The 117 strains of the microalgae maintained in the culture collection will be supplied to the demanders without any difficulties.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.18-23
• /
• 2016

Cell walls of microalgae consist of a polysaccharide and glycoprotein matrix providing the cells with a formidable defense against its environment. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of microalgae is primarily inhibited by the chemical composition of their cell walls containing biopolymers able to resist bacterial degradation. Adoption of pre-treatments such as thermal, thermal hydrolysis, ultrasound and enzymatic hydrolysis have the potential to remove these inhibitory compounds and enhance biogas yields by degrading the cell wall, and releasing the intracellular algogenic organic matter (AOM). This paper preproposal stage investigated the effect of different pre-treatments on microalgae cell wall, and their impact on the quantity of soluble biomass released in the media and thus on the digestion process yields. This Paper present optimum approach to degradation of the cell wall by ultra-sonication with practical design specification parameter for ultrasound based pretreatment system. As a result of this paper presents, a microalgae system in a wastewater treatment flowsheet for residual nutrient uptake can be justified by processing the waste biomass for energy recovery. As a conclusion on this result, Low energy harvesting technologies and pre-treatment of the algal biomass are required to improve the overall energy balance of this integrated system.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.147-153
• /
• 2018

This study investigates the role of microbial extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) as bioflocculants to harvest microalgae (water-microalgae separation). The EPS extracted from waste activated sludge (WAS) by heat extraction were fractionated into soluble EPS (S-EPS), loosely-bound EPS (LB-EPS) and tightly-bound EPS (TB-EPS) forms. All the EPSs facilitated the flocculation of microalgal cells from stable growth medium. Of those EPSs, the TB-EPS showed the highest flocculating activity (FA) resulting in the substantial decrease in the amount of EPS added in terms of total organic carbon (TOC) during flocculation. The FA of microalgae was improved with the increase in TB-EPS dose, however, excessive dose of TB-EPS adversely affected it due to destabilization. Both LB- and TB-EPS could be utilized for flocculating microalgae as a sustainable option to the existing chemical-based flocculants. In addition to the conventional assessments, the effectiveness of the two bioflocculants for floc forming was also confirmed using a novel assessment of lens-free shadow imaging technique (LSIT), which was firstly applied for the rapid and quantitative assessment of microalgal flocculation.

• ALGAE
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.149-161
• /
• 2009

Characteristics of benthic microalgae and sediment properties were investigated for the intertidal flats of Kwangyang Bay, Korea. Sampling stations were selected every 100 m in the intertidal flats from land-side to open ocean at two different sampling sites. Samples were collected in June 2004, July, September, November, February and May 2005. Sediments properties were measured including temperature, water contents, sediment bulk density, nutrient concentrations in porewater. Chlorophyll a concentrations in surface sediment (0.5 cm) were measured and relationships between the chlorophyll a and various sediment properties were analyzed to identify major mechanisms regulating biomass of benthic microalgae in the intertidal flats using simple linear regression analysis. Sediment chlorophyll a concentrations were maximum during winter and minimum during warm seasons ranging from 4.4 mg $m^{-2}\;to\;81.2\;mg\;m^{-2}$. No clear spatial variations were observed for the sediment chlorophyll a in the study sites. Results from regression analysis suggested that benthic microalgae biomass was affected by sediment temperature and nutrients especially ammonium and silicate. Grazing effect was estimated using chlorophyll: pheopigments ratio, indirect indicator of grazing activity, and the positive correlation of the ratio and chlorophyll a implied that microalgae biomass is affected by grazing of zoobenthos although direct measurement of grazing activity is required to determine the importance of top-down controls in the benthic microalgae dynamics.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.85-89
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study is to understand the removal possibility of microalgae using inorganic coagulants in coagulation and sedimentation process for water treatment. Removal of microalgae was studied according to coagulant type(Alum and PAC), coagulation factors(alkalinity, coagulant dosage, and setting time), and size fraction of microalgae. The contribution of applied coagulants for removal of microalgae was also examined. The removal rate of the microalgae by change of alkalinity was most high in 25 mg/L of alkalinity(Alum) as 87.2% and 30 mg/L of that(PAC) as 90.1%. Optimal coagulant dosage to remove the microalgae was 40 mg/L(removal effi.; 88.1%), and PAC was 50 mg/L(removal effi.; 90.1%). Alum was better than the PAC to remove the microlgae. In the water treatment processes such as rapid slow mixing and sedimentation the removal efficiency of microalgae with coagulants was 2 times higher than that of without. In optimal condition, the removal efficiencies of microalgae were nanoplankton > microplankton > picoplankton. Especially, the removal efficiency of the picoplankton was very low as below 30%.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.31 no.10
• /
• pp.960-968
• /
• 2021

Since microalgae research started on late 18 century, they have been recognized as one of the most important bioresources used in bioindustry. Owing to the large efforts paid to industrial application of this microorganisms, their importance on food/feed and bioactive compounds has been further extending into the environmental research areas including alternative energy resources, mitigation of the carbon emission, and waste-water treatment. However, despite the importance on their industrial application, the fundamental research field related to the long-term preservation of microalgae culture has not received much attention. However, a less labor intensive and cost-efficient preservation technology enabling biologically active and stable microalgae-culture provides a key success factor in the biotechnological application. Therefore, this study investigated various cutting-edge microalgae cryopreservation technologies currently developed so far, mainly targeting Chlorophyta, which occupies the largest taxon in the classification system of microalgae. In addition, for the development of successful cryopreservation technique, the key factors such as temperature control effect and preservative effect during cryopreservation of microalgae culture were investigated. In addition, the problems with current preservation technology that is being used in Korean domestic biological resource banks and the international microalgal resource banks are described. According to our investigation, currently no standard method for long-term preservation of microalgae is available due to their various morphological and physiological characteristics. To overcome such issues, much more efforts on fundamental research area on the identification of specific biomarker used for microalgae taxonomical classification and further systemic approaches based on strain-specific cryopreservation methods needed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.473-478
• /
• 2014

Microalgae is known as one alternative energy source of the fossil fuel with the small size of $5{\sim}50{\mu}m$ and negative charge. Currently, the cost of microalgae recovery process take a large part, about 20 - 30% of total operating cost. Thus, the microalgae recovery method with low cost is needed. In this study, the optimum current for Scenedesmus dimorphus recovery process using electrocoagulation techniques was investigated. Under the electrical current, Al metal in anode electrode is oxidized to oxidation state of $Al^{3+}$. In the cathode electrode, the water electrolysis generated $OH^-$ which combine with $Al^{3+}$ to produce $Al(OH)_3$. This hydroxide acts as a coagulant to harvest microalgae. Before applying in 1.5 L capacity electrocoagulation reactor, Scenedesmus dimorphus was cultured in 20 L cylindrical reactor to concentration of 1 OD. The microalgae recovery efficiency of electrocoagulation reactor was evaluated under different current conditions from 0.1 ~ 0.3 A. The results show that, the fastest and highest recovery efficiency were achieved at the current or 0.3 A, which the highest energy efficiency was achieved at 0.15 A.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.285-290
• /
• 2013

Recently a novel bio refinery process with using nonedible biomass, especially microalgae, has been developed in order to directly reduce $CO_2$ concentration from flue gas and simultaneously produce renewable bio fuel. Micro algae-to-biofuel processes are composed of microalgae cultivation, harvesting, lipid extraction, and bio fuel conversion. So, there are concerns about the energy efficiencies of bio refinery processes. In this study, the net energy ratio of microalgae processes were calculated for the microalgae produced from a pilot photobioreacto using $CO_2$ released from coal combustion. In this study, trans-esterification and pyrolysis processes were used to analyze the net energy efficiencies. Micro algae-to-biofuel processes might produce bio fuels with the higher energy than that of the total consumed energy for cultivation, harvesting, extraction and conversion. If the lipid content of microalgae was higher, the trans-esterification conversion process was more effective than that of pyrolysis process.