(506f) Characterizing the Effect of Cationic Polyelectrolyte Flocculants for Microfiltration of Cyanobacterial Culture

Membrane filtration of blue green algae is an efficient method of harvesting than the high energy consuming centrifugation only when high enough flux is achieved. Three different flocculants were investigated for their performance in response to total filtration time by improving the permeate flux for cyanobacterial culture. The concentration required to achieve flocculation was varied between the flocculants to identify the required concentration. Cellulose and nitrocellulose membranes were compared for their performance in microfiltration. Total filtration time is reduced significantly with the addition of flocculant compared to the control non flocculating culture suspension. Simple cationic polyelectrolyte resulted in larger floc formation, but not resulted in the shortest filtration time like poly amine resin. Cellulose membrane performed better than the nitrocellulose membrane for same flocculant type and concentration. In addition, the optical density of the permeate is measured to observe the turbidity formed by flocculating agent and to evaluate the filtering efficiency. Thus cellulose membrane with poly amine resin at concentration of 0.03%  provides the improved permeate flux with least filtration time.