Abstract
The interest in microalgae production deals with its role as the third generation of feedstock to recover renewable energy. Today, there is a need to analyze the ultimate research and advances in recovering the microalgae biomass from the culture medium. Therefore, this review brings the current research developments (over the last three years) in the field of harvesting microalgae using membrane-based technologies (including microfiltration, ultrafiltration and forward osmosis). Initially, the principles of membrane technologies are given to outline the main parameters influencing their operation. The main strategies adopted by the research community for the harvesting of microalgae using membranes are subsequently addressed, paying particular attention to the novel achievements made for improving filtration performance and alleviating fouling. Moreover, this contribution also gives an overview of the advantages of applying membrane technologies for the efficient extraction of the high added-value compounds in microalgae cells, such as lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, which together with the production of renewable biofuels could boost the development of more sustainable and cost-effective microalgae biorefineries.
Highlights
Academic Editor: Teresa PoerioReceived: 8 July 2021Accepted: 27 July 2021Published: 30 July 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This article is an open access articleToday, there is a big interest in implementing renewable energies as a way of replacing the conventional fossil fuels derived from coal, natural gas and crude oil, which are highly polluting to the environment [1]
The results showed that, both evaluated systems mediated similar total concentrations factors of 37.3, the use of forward osmosis as a post-harvesting process resulted in 24% less energy consumption compared to the dual stage ultrafiltration process [84]
This review paper denoted the ability of membrane techniques in the harvesting of a microalgae biomass, as well as key principles and factors involved for the successful operation of membranes in such a complex system
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Various strategies are currently used for the production of microalgae, such as photoautotrophic production (open pond production, closed photobioreactors and hybrid systems) [7], heterotrophic production [8] and mixotrophic production [9] Among all these production pathways, photobioreactor systems stand out as the feasible tool for the production of algae biomass at controlled conditions. Chemical engineers have implemented secondary harvesting methods, such as centrifugation, rotary filtration, vacuum filtration, direct drying, freeze drying and membrane filtration [13,14] This latter method implies micro (MF), ultra (UF)-filtration and concentration-driven membrane technologies that have been widely used in the separation, recovery and fractionation of biomolecules from various types of streams, such as wastewaters, by-products, natural sources [15,16,17], among others. This review covers the application of membrane technologies for the efficient separation of the specific components contained in microalgae cells, such as lipids (triacylglycerides), proteins and carbohydrates
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