The increase on petroleum-based fuel demand, lack of sufficient petroleum resources, reaching hazardous limits of green house gases and the... Show moreThe increase on petroleum-based fuel demand, lack of sufficient petroleum resources, reaching hazardous limits of green house gases and the need for energy security are motivating the development of an alternate fuel besides conventional gas. Bio-diesel, as a potential replacement to petrol, is technically feasible, environmentally friendly, produced locally and provides low gallon per Btu. Biodiesel obtained from microalgae is a form of fuel being used recently which gives the opportunity to obtain energy in environmental friendly and sustainable manner without competing on human’s food as biofuel feedstock; growing microalgae and turning it to biodiesel is not cost effecttive yet though. In order to minimize the cost of microalgae production, each step of algal growth should be studied and optimized. The separation of algae cells from their aquatic medium, known as harvesting, is the most challenging and energy consuming step of growth cycle. Different studies have shown more than 30% of algal production energy consumption is dedicated to the harvesting phase. Small size of algae cells, low concentration, small density difference between algae and medium and ionic charge of medium makes it impossible to sediment algae cells by gravity or coagulation. An effective method to separate algae from its medium could be bio-flocculation. In this research Botryococcus Braunii microalgae has been co-cultured with a bacterial flocculant to form clumps of easy-harvesting biomass. The growth kinetics of this novel feedstock has been studied for the very first time, based on literature, and its optimum growth conditions have been derived. M.S. in Chemical Engineering, July 2014 Show less
