Energy-efficient membranes for microalgae dewatering: Fouling challenges and mitigation strategies

Electro-Conductive Membranes for Permeation Enhancement and Fouling Mitigation: A Short Review

The research on electro-conductive membranes has expanded in recent years. These membranes have strong prospective as key components in next generation water treatment plants because they are engineered in order to enhance their performance in terms of separation, flux, fouling potential, and permselectivity. The present review summarizes recent developments in the preparation of electro-conduc...

Hurdles and challenges for modelling and control of microalgae for CO2 mitigation and biofuel production

Oleaginous microalgae are seen as a potential major biofuel producer in the future since, under conditions of nitrogen deprivation, they can contain high amounts of lipids, while they consume CO2 from power plants. These photosynthetic microorganisms are however rather different from the microorganisms usually used in biotechnology. In particular, predicting the behaviour of microalgal based pr...

Fouling and Fouling Mitigation on Heat Exchanger Surfaces

An Overview of Fouling Mechanisms, Prediction and Mitigation Strategies for Thermal Desalination Plants

Despite technological advances of several desalination processes such as reverse osmosis, still considerable proportion of installed units are thermally driven processes which their efficiency can severely be reduced by the formation of fouling deposits on heat transfer surfaces. For many years, it has been practical strategy to avoid fouling rather than facing it. Some of these strategies are ...

Microalgae – Opportunities and Challenges of an Innovative Energy Source

Microalgae produce higher biomass and oil yields than traditional energy crops, and they can be cultivated on marginal land or in seawater. Additional benefits can be achieved from co-production of food, feed and high-value chemicals as well as from environmental services, such as bio-fixation of CO2 and wastewater treatment. However, biotechnical, environmental, and economic challenges need to...