All about algae harvesting

Posted by Seagrass Tech Private Limited on March 15th, 2019

Algae harvesting is the process by which the algae is cultivated and used for biofuel and other purposes. Algae play a vital role and extend its help for having a healthy sustainable planet. Understanding the uses and the importance of them in the day to day life there are a number of companies and people started to work in the harvesting of the algae and to have the benefits out of them.

How are algae harvesting carried out?

It is a process of growing algae like other traditional crops and they can be cultivated as people do with the traditional crops. When one decides to grow them it is an easy process and the algae production will also require only less amount o fresh water to grow. On cultivating them they can be used in various purposes by most importantly in the fuel production. But the problem lies in the factor of cost. When you want to grow algae and harvest them for the production of fuel, it is necessary to have a huge fund. So, as a result, most of them believe that the former comes the latter.

Cultivation of algae

It is the first step, to carry them out it is necessary to have an open pond or Algal Turf Scrubber (ATS) system. In the open pond, the water is lined with the geomembrane materials to cultivate algae.  They are submerged in water and absorb sunlight and turn in to biomass. The growers can be able to collect or harvest them every two days.

As the application of technology the ATS system will allow the coral reefs by covering the slanted surface with the geomembrane material and thus it becomes to cultivate the algae on the surface. When compared to the open traditional sources it becomes easy with less contamination and becomes with larger yields with less risk. It is also considered as the ideal source for the collection of fuel. It helps with butanol, ethanol, and methane gases. They also help in the production of marine microalgae biomass.

Production of fuel

After harvest, they are let in the dehydration and it is the time-consuming process. By the process, they help in the production of certain gas like biodiesel, methane, green diesel, and few other fuels as well. They are environment-friendly and serve as the best alternative to the traditional fuels that produces harm to the environment.

There are also companies that help in the cultivation of dunaliella salina which is another algae used in other purposes. Make use of such user-friendly and environment-friendly algae and try to replace them than the other components that help for human and nature as well.