INNOVATIVE ALGAE DEWATERING TECHNOLOGY

The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) has developed a novel technology for dewatering of algae for biofuel production and other applications. This hydrodynamic separation (HDS) technology uses customized fluid flow patterns in a curved channel to focus suspended particles into a concentrated band near one channel wall. A splitter at the end of the channel divides the flow into a clean effluent and a concentrate stream. The particle focusing is caused purely by hydrodynamic forces, which are proportional to the size of the particles, but independent of their density. This technology enables the concentration of particles with densities equal or close to that of the surrounding fluid without the need of a physical barrier, making it especially attractive for the dewatering of algae. In this poster will will present lab scale separation results for a variety of algae including spirulina, phaeodactylum tricornutum, and chlorella vulgaris. Other advantages of the HDS technology include: rapid processing time (seconds), continuous flow operation, no moving parts, high scalability, and high modularity in construction.