earticle

영어

In 2006, the price of palm oil was $0.52/L, but the microalgal biodiesel cost was $2.80/L, fivefold higher than plant biodiesel price. For the economical feasibility of microalgal biodiesel, it is mandatory to reduce the harvest cost which occupies ca. 20% of total microalgal biodiesel production and introduce the integration system of cultivation and harvest process. There have been various algal harvest methods for the microalgal biodiesel production, organic/inorganic coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, flotation, and so on. Until now, Electrolytic technology have been mainly utilized for elimination of microalgae in eutrophicated lake and river. This technology, compared to other microalgae removal technologies, shows better economical feasibility and lower contamination. Due to other low economical microalgae harvest means, Electrolytic technology draws a attention as new alternative recently. In this study, some operating factors for microalgal harvest was investigated. Through electrolysis of water, positive-charged coagulants and O2 microbubbles are generated at anode and H2 microbubbles are generated at cathode in EC technology. Coagulants make microalgae destabilized forming microalgae flucs. After flocculation, microbubbles float microalgae flucs for harvest