Phytolutions

The PhytoHarvester

 The PhytoHarvester

 

Our harvesting method involves the concentration of the dilute microalgae suspension, typically 0,03% TSS (open ponds) to 0,3% TSS (closed photobioreactors) into a slurry or paste with concentrations of 1,5-2% TSS. The microalgae are treated gently by the PhytoHarvester, which generates a high quality concentrate.

With the Phytoharvester, the harvesting processes can be done manually or programmed to start and stop automatically when a certain concentration is reached in the plant or in the concentrated suspension.

Depending on the use of the biomass and its down streaming processing, the PhytoHarvester can work as a preconcentration step, and use a centrifuge or flocculants to achieve concentrations 10-30% TSS.

The PhytoHarvester removes particles >1 mm, allowing the return of the algae-free effluent to the system reducing the consumption of water. The PhytoHarvester can be used to pre-treat the production water and to reduce the contamination.

 

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Challenge

Microalgae dewatering is a challenge for industrial-scale processing of microalgae. There is no superior method of the concentration process and although centrifugation has been successfully applied for algae production systems, but it is both time- and energy-consuming and requires expensive equipment.

The harvesting process involves the concentration of dilute microalgae suspensions, typically 0.03% (open ponds) to 0.3% (closed photo bioreactors) total suspended solids (TSS) into a slurry or paste with concentrations of 2%–30% TSS.  The concentration obtained in the harvesting steps is crucial to the overall process as it influences the subsequent drying process.

Solutions

The concentration process is a major obstruction to industrial-scale processing of microalgae. With our phytoharvester(patent pending) it is now possible to obtain a desired microalgae concentration by a one or two step harvesting process. The primary phytoharvester step forms a slurry of up to 2% TSS (20kg/m3) followed by a secondary dewatering step of your choice that produces an algae paste of 15%–25% TSS. The phytoharvester can be adjusted to any separator or centrifuge which work under different centrifugation conditions.

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Advantage

This phytoharvester pre-concentrates algae suspensions from typical open ponds (0.03% to 0,1%TSS) or from closed PBR (0,1-0,5%TSS) like our phytobag before any separator or flocculation process proceeds. This step 1 process of algae dewatering drastically reduce the costs and energy demands (see Energy consumption). The average power consumption is 0.32 kWh/m3 feed flow. The air scour design minimizes power consumption and eliminates sludging, avoiding localized dewatering of the algae sludge. Particles > 0,1 µm are removed. The system can also be used to recycle the algae-free effluent, to pre-treat the production water and to minimize contamination. Requirements for cleaning and maintenance are minimized.

Modules are available in a variety of sizes. The largest single units are integrated in one 20`open-top container and can concentrate up to 2700 m3/day. They are customized to the corresponding algae-production system.

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