Chitosan-graft-polydiallyldimethyl Ammonium Chloride for Microalgae Harvesting from Wastewater
Authors:
Anthony, R.J. and Sims, R.C.
Journal:
Desalination and Water Treatment
Abstract:
Harvesting microalgae is considered as a bottleneck to the process of microalgal biofuel production. Coagulation and flocculation of microalgae is shown to be the most suitable method of large-scale harvesting of microalgae. This study focused on synthesizing chitosan-g-polyDADMAC by grafting polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride onto the chitosan molecule to remove microalgae and total phosphorus (TP) from wastewater. Chitosan-g-polyDADMAC showed higher positive zeta potential than chitosan at all values of pH tested. Chitosan-g-polyDADMAC exhibited no isoelectric point characteristic of unmodified chitosan. Flocculant to algae mass ratio of 1:1 was required for chitosan-g-polyDADMAC to achieve 70% total suspended solids removal whereas, chitosan was required in the ratio 2:1 for 50% suspended solids removal. TP removal of nearly 20–25% was achieved with chitosan and chitosan-g-polyDADMAC at flocculant to algae ratio of 3:1. The use of chitosan-g-polyDADMAC as compared with unmodified chitosan has the potential to reduce material costs of microalgae harvesting.
Citation:
Anthony, Renil J., and Ronald C. Sims. “Chitosan-graft-polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride for microalgae harvesting from wastewater.” Desalination and Water Treatment ahead-of-print (2014): 1-7.