Population Balance Equation Applied to Microalgae Harvesting

Abstract Population Balance Equation is extended to model microalgae harvesting processes, such as centrifugation and sedimentation, to provide an accurate prediction of cell recovery rates. By analyzing changes in cell size distributions, the model can effectively examine how harvesting efficiencies would affect or be influenced by cell characteristics, such as size and density. Cell behaviors at different size ranges in the dewatering methods are studied to evaluate their variations with harvesting time as well as recovery rate for process optimization. Experiments of sedimentation and centrifugation on a microalgae species called Chlorella are carried out to validate the model. With measurements of optical densities and size distributions of the cell cultures, size specific densities of microalgae are derived to further improve the mathematical model.