Harvesting <i>Chlorella</i> species using magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

SUMMARY Microalgae are very useful organisms as it provides many beneficial products for human use. For large scale cultivation and further applications, its harvesting procedure needs to be enhanced to make the production process of the end product highly affordable. Magnetic nanoparticles have great potential to harvest microalgae as it can easily attract and attach to the algal cell surface forming a layer, which can be harvested quickly under the influence of a magnetic field. Our work on Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Chlorella minutissima shows, 500 mg of the synthesized bare iron oxide nanoparticles, harvests 90% of Chlorella pyrenoidosa (1 g L −1 ), in 60 s at pH 3 and 600 mg iron oxide nanoparticles, harvests 85% of Chlorella minutissima (1 g L −1 ) in 60 s at pH 5, which can decrease the amount of time and energy consumed in the overall production costs.