Additive-free harvesting of oleaginous phagotrophic microalga by oil and air flotation

A unique oleaginous phagotrophic microalga Ochromonas danica is poised for effective lipid production from waste. Cell harvesting and dewatering are major costs in making algae-based products. In this work an effective additive-free harvesting method was developed, taking advantage of O. danica’s comparatively more hydrophobic surface and larger size. The algal cells’ partitioning to oil/water interface was evaluated. Recovery by flotation with waste cooking oil was optimized using an L-9 Taguchi orthogonal-array design. Further, additive-free cell collection and concentrating by air flotation was studied for the effects of both physical factors (column dimension, air–stone pore size, sample-to-column volume ratio) and culture properties (pH, culture growth stage, cell concentration, and pure versus impure cultures). The optimized process consistently achieved >90 % recovery in a single stage. 98+ % recovery could be achieved when starting concentrations were >10⁸ cells/ml, or potentially using a two- or multi-stage process for diluter cultures.