The objective of
this study was to evaluate the efficiency of chitosan as a flocculant
for the harvesting of C. sorokiniana. The effects of several factors
including pH, cell concentration, growth stage and ionic strength
that might affect the flocculation efficiency were examined. The
impact of the flocculation process on a subsequent dewatering step
involving centrifugation or filtration was also tested (Supplementary
Fig. 1). Results show that a high flocculation efficiency can
be achieved using chitosan at relatively small dosage (10 mg per
g dry biomass) and a pH below 7.