Open AccessThe Use of Chitosan as Non-toxic Flocculant for Harvesting Microalgae Spirulina sp
Author(s) -
Nur Rokhati,
Aji Prasetyaningrum,
R W Aji,
Nur ‘Aini Hamada
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/828/1/012009
Subject(s) - flocculation , chitosan , spirulina (dietary supplement) , sedimentation , cationic polymerization , pulp and paper industry , coagulation , chemistry , polymer , chemical engineering , biology , organic chemistry , raw material , paleontology , psychology , sediment , psychiatry , engineering
Spirulina is a type of microalgae widely consumed as a food supplement due to its high nutritious benefits. Furthermore, it is very small and lives floating in water, making it quite difficult to harvest. One effective method of harvesting Spirulina is by coagulation/flocculation. In order to successfully harvest Spirulina , choosing the right flocculant material is very important. Chitosan, a natural polymer that has a cationic amine group, is often used in the food industry. This is because colloidal particles (polymer) that exist in nature are mostly negatively charged (including microalgae) and electrostatic interactions between cationic polymers with anionic polymers lead to the formation of flocculants. Therefore, this study was carried out to measure the feasibility of chitosan as a flocculant in the flocculation process of harvesting microalgae. The experiments were carried out with the variation of the concentration of chitosan, pH and slow-stirring speed, using efficiency of flocculation and sedimentation speed as parameters. The result showed that optimum condition was achieved at a slow-stirring speed of 40 rpm, sedimentation time of 2 hours, chitosan concentration of 100 mg/L and pH of 7-8. In this condition, the flocculation efficiency was 99.57%.