A Review of Microalgae Recovery Technology
微藻采收技术的进展与展望

Base on the characteristics of microalgae culture, different methods for pretreatment and dewatering in microalgae recovery technology have been reviewed, including pre-oxidation, chemical flocculation, physical pretreatment, sedimentation, filtration, centrifugation, foam flotation and air flotation. The results show that the cells release extra organic matters after pre-oxidation which is beneficial to flocculation sedimentation, but excess dosage of oxidant can damage the cells and even make extinction. The efficiency of successor dewatering can be greatly improved after chemical flocculation and physical pretreatment. Due to low concentration of culture and fine particles of microalgae, the problems of low efficiency and high cost may occur while using traditional methods of sedimentation, filtration, centrifugation and so on. However, air flotation is suitable for dewatering of low-concentration suspension system, and it is quite a feasible technology for microalgae recovery.