Magnetic harvesting of marine algae <i>Nannochloropsis oceanica</i>

Abstract

The harvesting of Nannochloropsis oceanica was studied using magnetic separation with naked iron oxide particles. Emphasis was given to the effect of pH on harvesting efficiency, while mixing time and steering speed were kept constant. High separation efficiencies (>90%) were obtained over a wide range of pH and particle dosage. At alkaline conditions, high harvesting efficiencies were achieved even at low particle dosages, proving the effectiveness of this method. For process design and optimization purposes, a polynomial model was successfully fitted to experimental data.