Several membrane-based technologies for microalgae harvesting
have been proposed to date, including submerged membrane [1,2],
cross-flow filtration [3–5], and dynamic microfiltration [6,7]. Among
these, the cross-flow mode warrants further investigation due to its potential
for high biomass recovery and low energy consumption [4]. This
cross-flow filtration technique has consistently exhibited better performance
compared to the conventional dead-end filtration method due to
the nature of the tangential flow, which inhibits fouling. Fouling, which
causes flux reduction and performance degradation, is one major problem
of any membrane-based technology. The unique microbial phenomenon
of fouling is known for its notorious resilience to any
prevention means. This fouling resilience is found even in the cross-
flow mode, even though the tangential flow exhibits distinct effectiveness
of reducing fouling under a condition of low cell concentration