Beyond enhancing biomass recovery efficiency, flocculants should
not hinder downstreambiological conversion techniques for bioenergy
generation. Indeed, conventional chemical coagulants, such as ferric and
aluminum salts, consume alkalinity and decrease pH. This may affect
the final effluent quality and biomass reuse. However, the flocculants
used in this study have a cationic character, whichmay prevent alkalinity
consumption; reducing pH values by less than 1 point (Table 2). Indeed
for the optimal dose of Ecotan and Tanfloc (10 mg/L and 50 mg/L,
respectively) the pH values decreased by 0.7 and 0.5 with Ecotan and
Tanfloc, respectively. Propitiously, pH values stabilized to 7.7 and 7.9,
within the appropriate range for anaerobic digestion (6.0–8.3) [27].