Energy analysis of microalgae biomass recovered from industrial photobioreactor
Vinicius Dreischerf Pereira1; Gustavo Henrique Gerlach de Almeida1; Nelson Fernando Herculano Selesu1; Diego de Oliveira Corrêa1; André Bellin Mariano1; José Viriato Coelho Vargas1; Marcos Vinícius Pereira da Costa1
1 Universidade Federal do Paraná
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-2008
Resumo
Potential friendly energy sources are being developed as result of the world's high energy demand and as alternative to fossil fuels. The microalgae stand out among them due to its elevated percent of lipids per dry weight, which indicates promising biodiesel applications. It also can be cultivated in several medium formulations and requires flexible parameters control. The microalgae use as biological treatment has achieved good results for swine wastewater in the NPDEAS (Center for Research of Self-Sustaining Energy Development) through industrial photobioreactor cultivation. In order to understand the energy utilization in the dry microalgae biomass production this study analyzes three different methodologies of biomass recovery. In the first, the microalgae from the industrial photobioreactor was subject to flocculation, centrifugation and drying in the oven. In the second, to centrifugation and subsequent drying in the oven. Finally, in the third, to flocculation and a two-steps sun-oven drying. The tests resulted in a lower energy consumption of the last methodology; however, the long dry period is a limiting factor for its application. Therefore, when considering the remaining ideas, the first presents itself as the best alternative because it minimizes the energy consumption of biomass and reduces recovery time.
Palavras-chave: Energy; Photobioreactor; microalgae; biomass