Patent ID: 9222065
Filing Date: 2015-12-29
Classification: C12M,C12P

Abstract:
1. A method for photoculturing and harvesting microalgae, the method comprising: a step a) of introducing a microalgae culture into a reactor, and irradiating the microalgae culture with light emitted from a light source to photoculture microalgae; a step b) of primarily harvesting a portion of the microalgae culture resulting from step a) into a flocculation/recovery tank; a step c) of introducing air microbubbles together with a natural polymer flocculant into the microalgae culture resulting from step b) to flocculate and float the microalgae; and a step d) of secondarily harvesting the flocculated and floated microalgae resulting from step c), wherein the light source is a light emitting diode (LED), wherein the LED comprises one or more of a red LED having a wavelength of 650-700 nm and a blue LED or white LED having a wavelength of 400-500 nm, and radiates light at an illumination intensity of 1700-9000 Lux and a light intensity of 50-165 μmol/m wherein step b) is performed by harvesting 10-50 vol % of the microalgae culture resulting from step a) into the flocculation/recovery tank, wherein the natural polymer flocculant is added in an amount of 0.05-0.5 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the microalgae culture resulting from b), wherein the natural polymer flocculant is aluminum Chloride hexahydrate (AlCl wherein the air microbubbles have a size of 2-20 μm and are introduced at a rate of 0.30-0.40 vvm for 5-15 minutes.