PHYTOPLANKTON CONCENTRATION

Sent: 27 September 2000

From: Juan Cigarria moluscos@tinamenor.es

To : AQUA-L@killick.ifmt.nf.ca

QUESTION:

I'm looking for information about how to concentrate phytoplankton (Tetraselmis, Isochrysis and Chaetocera) we are growing in a continuous algae system.

Juan Cigarria

Tinamenor S.A.

39594 Pesues, Cantabria

Spain

Tel: + 942 71 80 20

Fax: + 942 71 80 25

E-mail: moluscos@tinamenor.es

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COMMENTS 1 :

You can centrifuge them in an industrial centrifuge, as there are for petroleum. It can be connected from the continuous algae system, and only stops when you will extract the algae paste. We have a small one that processes 1000 L in 30 min, and you can obtain around 200-1000 ml of a very viscous paste.

Luis Alejandro Daqui Loureiro, Aquaculturist, MSc Candidate

Fundacion CENAIM-ESPOL

E-mail : alejandro-daqui@usa.net

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COMMENTS 2 :

There are many manufactures of dairy centrifuges which are made of stainless steel. Just harvest 1-2 x/day.

Chris Stahl

Research Director

Aquaculture Systems Technologies

E-mail: cstahl@beadfilters.com

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COMMENTS 3 :

There are several systems to concentrate microalgae ; it depends what you want to do with the microalgae. The cheapest way is flocculation, nevertheless if you want to use the biomass for larvae feeding, it is not useful. For that the best way to my knowledge is centrifugation. Nevertheless, knowing your culture system, I foresee very high running costs for a centrifugation solution.

Joao Navalho

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COMMENTS 4:

We are concentrating algae with a proprietary filtration system that takes our feed from 4-6% to almost 12% solids. We then dry this on our Refractance Window Dryers...visit www.rossha.com or www.desertlake.com

Howard W. Newman

Desert Lake Technologies, LLC

Klamath Falls, Oregon

(541) 885-6947

E-mail: bshimp@aol.com

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