KR101958937B1 - Apparatus for concentrating and harvesting microalgae - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a microalgae concentration and harvesting apparatus capable of increasing the culture efficiency and reducing the production and transportation costs by discharging a part of the microalgae that have been cultivated to the culture apparatus and reusing them as seeds.

Description

[0001] Apparatus for concentrating and harvesting microalgae [

The present invention relates to an apparatus for concentrating and harvesting microalgae.

The generation of carbon dioxide from the use of fossil fuels is causing global warming, and it is necessary to develop biofuels as sustainable green fuels for the era when fossil fuels are depleted. Among biofuels, biodiesel is widely used as a raw material for diesel engines, which is an internal combustion engine, and is a fuel that is attracting attention as an environmentally friendly fuel. However, fatty acid glycerol esters, fatty acids or lipids derived from plants and animals are used as raw materials for production, but since the lipids are mostly food resources, there is a risk that the mass production of biodiesel may cause food depletion problems. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the production resources of lipids for biodiesel production without causing food problems. Microalgae in the production of lipids are expected to be a source of future biodiesel because they have excellent ability to produce organic materials, especially lipids, by using photosynthesis using sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, and many studies are underway. In recent years, technologies for culturing microalgae in water, such as seas, rivers, and lakes, have been developed. In such aquaculture, the cost of transporting produced biomass to the land may be higher than inland culture. In order to minimize the transfer cost, it is essential that a process of concentrating and transferring the culture medium having a cell concentration of 1 g / L on a dry weight basis after culture is significantly reduced. Generally, the microalgae harvesting method requires a lot of energy and coagulant, such as centrifugation and dissolved gas injection flotation, so it is difficult to apply the method to concentrate the culture liquid produced in the aquaculture machine. Korean Patent Registration No. 1172438 discloses a system for continuously harvesting microalgae using an electrochemical method.

However, in the case of the prior art, the operation cost is increased due to the electrode replacement due to oxidation, and the collection process is interrupted to replace the electrode, which may reduce the efficiency of the recovery process of the microalgae.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem The present invention has been made to solve various problems including the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a microalgae concentrating method capable of enhancing the culture efficiency and minimizing the transportation cost by partially re- And a harvesting device. However, these problems are exemplary and do not limit the scope of the present invention.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an incubation apparatus comprising: an incubator including an interior space of a material, the interior of which is open at the top and prevents leakage of the microalgae culture liquid; And a harvester of a mesh or fabric material, which is inserted in the inner space and has a mesh size of 120 to 150% of the microalgae cells, is provided.

According to one embodiment of the present invention as described above, the micro-algae produced through the marine incubator can be partially harvested, and some of them can be used as seeds of an incubator to produce concentrated and harvested harvesting devices capable of concentrating and harvesting microalgae Can be implemented. Of course, the scope of the present invention is not limited by these effects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic view schematically showing the structure of a micro-algae concentration and harvesting apparatus of the present invention. Fig.
2 is a schematic view schematically showing the structure of a micro-algae concentration and harvesting apparatus having an air bag.
FIG. 3 is a graph showing the cell outflow rate and the permeability of the culture medium for microalgae culture material and harvesting material.

Definition of Terms:

As used herein, the term "microalgae" refers to phytoplankton inhabiting the ocean, and plankton such as cochlearinism, which often causes red tides, is also a microalgae. Microalgae, which focuses on marine bioenergy research, is a species of microalgae that is rich in lipids, that is, oil. The size is about 10 microns (micron, one millionth of a meter) and about one tenth the thickness of the hair.

As used herein, the term "photosynthetic microorganism" refers to algae, red algae, and blue algae capable of photosynthesis, including, for example, Chlorella, Chlamydomonas , Haematococous , Botryococcus ), may be a three or four etc. death mousse (Scenedesmus), Spirulina (Spirulina), tetra-cell Miss (Tetraselmis), two flying it Ella (Dunaliella), but is not limited to such. At this time, the above microalgae can produce carotenoids, microbial cells, pycobiliproteins, lipids, carbohydrates, unsaturated fatty acids and proteins in a culture container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an incubation apparatus comprising: an incubator including an interior space of a material, the interior of which is open at the top and prevents leakage of the microalgae culture liquid; And a harvester of a mesh or fabric material, which is inserted in the inner space and has a mesh size of 120 to 150% of the microalgae cells, is provided.

The apparatus for concentrating and harvesting microalgae may further include an air bag on the bottom of the harvester and may further include a pump inside the harvester. The microalgae culture fluid supplied to the upper part may be filtered by natural gravity to concentrate can do.

In the apparatus for concentrating and harvesting microalgae, the fabric material may be a nonwoven fabric, a cotton fabric, a woolen fabric, or a silk fabric, and the fabric may be gauze, ogandi, muslin, gilt, homospace or chiffon.

In the apparatus for concentrating and harvesting microalgae, the material of the incubator may be a biodegradable polymer or a refractory polymer, and the biodegradable polymer may be selected from the group consisting of poly (epsilon-caprolactone), poly lactic acid ), Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid), cellulose, methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate, nitro But are not limited to, cellulose, nitrocellulose, curdlan, polyglutamic acid, polylysine, polyhydroxy alkanoate, polyethylene glycol, poly (glycolic acid) ) Or a polyester, and the refractory polymer is selected from the group consisting of teflon, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyolefine, polyamides, poly But are not limited to, polyacrylate, silicon, poly methly methacrylate, polystyrene, polypropylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, polyethylene-maleic anhydride copolymers, poly Polyamide, poly (vinyl chloride), poly (vinyl fluoride), poly (vinyl imidazole), chlorosulphonate polyolefin, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nylon, low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), acryl, polyetheretherketone, polyimide, polycarbonate, polyurethane (polyurethane) or polyethylene oxide (poly (ethylene oxide)).

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiments of the present invention are described in order to more fully explain the present invention to those skilled in the art, and the following embodiments may be modified into various other forms, It is not limited to the embodiment. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be more thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the thickness and size of each layer are exaggerated for convenience and clarity of explanation.

It is to be understood that throughout the specification, when an element such as a film, region or substrate is referred to as being "on", "connected to", "laminated" or "coupled to" another element, It will be appreciated that elements may be directly "on", "connected", "laminated" or "coupled" to another element, or there may be other elements intervening therebetween. On the other hand, when one element is referred to as being "directly on", "directly connected", or "directly coupled" to another element, it is interpreted that there are no other components intervening therebetween do. A uniform code refers to a uniform element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed items.

Although the terms first, second, etc. are used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and / or portions, these members, components, regions, layers and / It is obvious that no. These terms are only used to distinguish one member, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Thus, a first member, component, region, layer or section described below may refer to a second member, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present invention.

Also, relative terms such as "top" or "above" and "under" or "below" can be used herein to describe the relationship of certain elements to other elements as illustrated in the Figures. Relative terms are intended to include different orientations of the device by adding weight to the orientation depicted in the Figures. For example, in the figures the elements are turned over so that the elements depicted as being on the top surface of the other elements are oriented on the bottom surface of the other elements. Thus, the example "top" may include both "under" and "top" directions depending on the particular orientation of the figure. If the elements are oriented in different directions (rotated 90 degrees with respect to the other direction), the relative descriptions used herein can be interpreted accordingly.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include singular forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, " comprise "and / or" comprising "when used herein should be interpreted as specifying the presence of stated shapes, numbers, steps, operations, elements, elements, and / And does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, operations, elements, elements, and / or groups.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings schematically showing ideal embodiments of the present invention. In the figures, for example, variations in the shape shown may be expected, depending on manufacturing techniques and / or tolerances. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention should not be construed as limited to the particular shapes of the regions shown herein, but should include, for example, changes in shape resulting from manufacturing.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view schematically showing a configuration of an apparatus 100 for concentrating and harvesting microalgae according to the present invention. As shown in the drawing, an incubator 120 having a space capable of accommodating a microalgae culture fluid 130 containing a photosynthetic microorganism to be cultured, and an incubator 120 after completion of cultivation in a form insertable into the incubator 120 120), and then harvesting only the concentrated microalgae (157). Generally, when microalgae are cultured in an aquatic environment such as a sea or a lake, transportation costs are more consumed than inland culture. Therefore, in the case of conventional microalgae culturing, a concentration process for reducing the volume is necessary. Therefore, centrifugation or dissolution When the gas injection flotation method is applied, a lot of energy and coagulant are required, and therefore, there is a problem that labor and cost are required. However, in the microalgae concentration and harvesting apparatus 100 of the present invention, when the cultivation is completed, the harvesting machine 150 can be separated from the incubator 120 to harvest microalgae. At this time, most of the concentrated microalgae present in the harvester 150 The microalgae culture solution 130 is harvested from the bottom of the harvester 150 to the incubator 120 and used as a seed for microalgae cultivation in the future. Therefore, the microalgae can be harvested and regenerated at the same time, and it is possible to concentrate the natural gravity by separating the harvester (150), which is advantageous in concentration, transport, and material cost reduction. The reason why such microalgae can be concentrated and reused is that they are cultivated in a form in which the harvester 150 is inserted into the incubator 120 in which the bottom and the bulkhead are composed of materials that essentially prevent the outflow of the microalgae cells, However, in the case of the harvester 150, the material constituting the bottom and the partitions is composed of a material having a relatively large size of the cultured microalgae. For example, when the cultivation is completed, the harvester 150 is raised When the size of the mesh is made larger than that of the microalgae, the single cells which grow vigorously are relatively easily passed through. However, when the diameter of the secondary metabolites such as lipids accumulates, do. Therefore, some single cells (about 10%) passing through the mesh flow out to the incubator 120 and then the mesh is blocked by the microalgae so that only the concentrated microalgae 157 remain in the harvester 150. At this time, the size of the mesh of the material constituting the bottom and the partitions of the harvester 150 is 120 to 150% of the size of the microalgal cells considering the size (7 to 14 탆) when the photosynthetic microorganism is, for example, Tetraselmis species And a microalgae cell outflow rate of 5% to 20%. In this case, the material of the harvester 150 may be made of a mesh, a perforated sheet, or a fabric material made of synthetic fibers, and the fabric material may be a nonwoven fabric, a cotton fabric, a woven fabric or a silk fabric, Gandhi, muslin, broad glee, homemade or chiffon.

In addition, the material of the incubator 120 that blocks the outflow of microalgae cells can be made of a biodegradable polymer or a refractory polymer, and the biodegradable polymer can be selected from the group consisting of poly (epsilon-caprolactone), polylactic acid poly lactic acid, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid), cellulose, methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate Polyglycolic acid, polylysine, polyhydroxy alkanoate, polyethylen glycol, polyglycolic acid, polyglycolic acid, polyglycolic acid, polyglycolic acid, (glycolic acid) or polyester, and the refractory polymer may be selected from the group consisting of teflon, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyolefine, polyamides, But are not limited to, polyacrylate, silicon, poly methly methacrylate, polystyrene, polypropylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, polyethylene-maleic anhydride copolymers, poly Polyamide, poly (vinyl chloride), poly (vinyl fluoride), poly (vinyl imidazole), chlorosulphonate polyolefin, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nylon, low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), acryl, polyetheretherketone, polyimide, polycarbonate, polyurethane (polyurethane) or polyethylene oxide (poly (ethylene oxide)). FIG. 1 illustrates a method of separating the harvester 150 from the incubator 120 in order to easily explain the features of the present invention. However, when the harvester 150 is fixed and the incubator 120 is lowered, The method of harvesting is also applicable. Also, a method of maintaining or improving the speed at which the culture liquid is separated by generating a cross flow due to the flow by the pump or the like in the harvester 150 after separating the harvester 150 is also applicable.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view schematically showing the structure of a micro-algae concentration and harvesting apparatus 200 having an air bag 152. As shown in the figure, a system in which a harvester 150 is inserted into an incubator 120 for culturing a microalgae, and cultured and harvested from the incubator 120 is the same as that of FIG. 1, And an air bag 152 is added to improve the harvesting and cultivation efficiency of microalgae. At the start of culturing, microalgae and culture are added to cultivate the microalgae cells. When the cultivation is completed, air is injected into a supply pipe (not shown) connected to the air bag 152, so that the air bag 152 floats, And the entire bottom and the partitions of the harvesting machine 150 are raised from the bottom of the incubator 120. At this time as well, some microalgae in the harvester 150 flow out to the incubator 120 to be used as seeds and to rapidly harvest the concentrated microalgae 157 . Therefore, as the concentrated microalgae 157 is harvested more conveniently than the construction of FIG. 1, the labor and cost required for harvesting are reduced.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail through experimental examples. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but is capable of other various forms of implementation. The following examples are intended to be illustrative of the present invention, Is provided to fully inform the user.

Experimental Example 1: Analysis of permeability of microalgae culture medium

For the analysis of the permeability of the culture medium using the microalgae concentration and harvesting apparatus 100 of the present invention, a small harvesting apparatus having an area of 0.0048 m ² and a maximum volume of 200 mL was equipped with three kinds of culture mesh and harvesting filter paper And the microalgae (Tetracellis sp.) Culture medium having a cell concentration of 1 g / L was filtered to measure the concentration of microalgae in the culture medium and the permeability of the culture medium.

As a result, 99.5% of the cells were harvested, but the permeability of the culture medium was 322 mm / hr. In the harvesting materials 1 and 2, 10% and 13% of the cells passed through the filter paper, 2,105 mm / hr, respectively.

In conclusion, the apparatus 100 for concentrating and harvesting microalgae of the present invention can reduce the volume of microalgae production by significantly reducing the volume required for the transfer by concentrating the culture liquid on the aquaculture machine. In addition, since the remaining culture medium can be transferred to another incubator and cultured immediately, it is not necessary to maintain a large amount of seed microorganisms, so that an efficient microalgae culture process is possible.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. will be. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

100: Microalgae concentration and harvesting device
120: incubator
130: Microalgae culture
150: Harvester
152: air bag
157: Concentrated microalgae

Claims (9)

An incubator including an inner space of the material, the upper portion of which opens and prevents the outflow of the microalgae culture liquid; And
And a mesh or fabric material harvesting machine having a mesh size of 120 to 150% of the microscopic algae cells which are installed in the inner space so as to be able to be inserted into the upper space and can be separated and removed when the culture is completed. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising an air bladder on the bottom of the harvester. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a pump inside the harvester. The method according to claim 1,
A micro-algae concentrate and harvesting device for filtering and concentrating the microalgae culture liquid supplied to the upper part by a natural gravity method. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the fabric material is nonwoven fabric, cotton fabric, woolen fabric, and silk fabric. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the cotton fabric is gauze, ogandi, muslin, glazed, homed or chiffon micro-algae concentrating and harvesting device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the material of the incubator is made of a biodegradable polymer or a refractory polymer. 8. The method of claim 7,
The biodegradable polymer may be selected from the group consisting of poly (epsilon-caprolactone), poly lactic acid, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid), cellulose, methyl But are not limited to, cellulose, methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate, nitrocellulose, curdlan, polyglutamic acid, polylysine, A micro-algae concentrating and harvesting device, which is a polyhydroxy alkanoate, a polyethylene glycol, a poly (glycolic acid) or a polyester. 8. The method of claim 7,
The refractory polymer may be selected from the group consisting of teflon, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyolefine, polyamides, polyacrylate, silicon, poly methly methacrylate, polystyrene, Polypropylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, polyethylene-maleic anhydride copolymers, polyamides, poly (vinyl chloride), poly (vinyl fluoride), polyvinyl imidazole imidazole), chlorosulphonate polyolefin, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), nylon, low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), acryl acryl, polyetheretherketone, polyimide, polycarbonate, polyurea, (Polyurethane) or polyethylene oxide (poly (ethylene oxide)) which, microalgae concentration and harvesting equipment.

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