A mathematical model to describe the fungal assisted algal flocculation process

Abstract

Fungal assisted algal harvesting is an attractive option for separating algae from bulk media. Although numerous studies have been reported in the recent time, no workable mathematical model has been developed for the same. In the present study, a mathematical model has been developed for fungal-assisted algal harvesting which shows that the process is not a second order process unlike other flocculation models. The process is also dependent on the radius of the algal cells and fungal pellets. Moreover, the flocculation process is affected by the velocity gradient of the system. The model was validated using different experiments viz. different fungal-algal ratio, variation in rpm, different algal strains, algae grown in different wastewaters and finally in a 10L photobioreactor. The proposed model is found to be in agreement with the experimental results along with r2>0.90 in most of the cases.