TY - JOUR
T1 - Selective separation of microalgae cells using inertial microfluidics
AU - Syed, Maira S.
AU - Rafeie, Mehdi
AU - Vandamme, Dries
AU - Asadnia, Mohsen
AU - Henderson, Rita
AU - Taylor, Robert A.
AU - Warkiani, Majid E.
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - Microalgae represent the most promising new source of biomass for the world's growing demands. However, the biomass productivity and quality is significantly decreased by the presence of bacteria or other invading microalgae species in the cultures. We therefore report a low-cost spiral-microchannel that can effectively separate and purify Tetraselmis suecica (lipid-rich microalgae) cultures from Phaeodactylum tricornutum (invasive diatom). Fluorescent polystyrene-microbeads of 6 μm and 10 μm diameters were first used as surrogate particles to optimize the microchannel design by mimicking the microalgae cell behaviour. Using the optimum flowrate, up to 95% of the P. tricornutum cells were separated from the culture without affecting the cell viability. This study shows, for the first time, the potential of inertial microfluidics to sort microalgae species with minimal size difference. Additionally, this approach can also be applied as a pre-sorting technique for water quality analysis.
AB - Microalgae represent the most promising new source of biomass for the world's growing demands. However, the biomass productivity and quality is significantly decreased by the presence of bacteria or other invading microalgae species in the cultures. We therefore report a low-cost spiral-microchannel that can effectively separate and purify Tetraselmis suecica (lipid-rich microalgae) cultures from Phaeodactylum tricornutum (invasive diatom). Fluorescent polystyrene-microbeads of 6 μm and 10 μm diameters were first used as surrogate particles to optimize the microchannel design by mimicking the microalgae cell behaviour. Using the optimum flowrate, up to 95% of the P. tricornutum cells were separated from the culture without affecting the cell viability. This study shows, for the first time, the potential of inertial microfluidics to sort microalgae species with minimal size difference. Additionally, this approach can also be applied as a pre-sorting technique for water quality analysis.
KW - Tetraselmis suecica
KW - Phaeodactylum tricornutum
KW - Selective separation
KW - Spiral microchannel
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85039990650&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE160100131
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP170103704
U2 - 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.065
DO - 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.065
M3 - Article
C2 - 29306136
AN - SCOPUS:85039990650
SN - 0960-8524
VL - 252
SP - 91
EP - 99
JO - Bioresource Technology
JF - Bioresource Technology
ER -