Electrocoagulation–flotation (ECF) for microalgae harvesting – A review

Harvesting has been recognized as a major bottleneck in any microalgae-based technology, making it relevant research topic the field. Among applicable technologies, electrocoagulation-flotation (ECF) devoted lot of attention an effective alternative to conventional metal salts addition. This paper reports and comments available literature on ECF, aiming at retrieving assessing main parameters affecting process performance by identifying their optimal ranges. After introducing basic principle presents qualitative analysis factors (electrochemical parameters, microalgae broth characteristics) way they affect performance. Then, quantitative assessment performed based dataset 190 records from 29 papers. Metal toxicity costs are addressed. Finally, guidelines for future experimentations discussed order support facilitate further development ECF technology.