The objective of the present study is to evaluate two tannin-based
cationic flocculants for coagulation–flocculation and sedimentation of
microalgae grown in experimental HRAP for wastewater treatment. In
particular the study aimed at: 1) determining the optimal flocculant
doses with jar tests, 2) studying the settling of formed flocs using settling
column tests, and 3) assessing the effect of flocculants on biomass
anaerobic digestion by means of biochemical methane potential tests.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that natural flocculants
are evaluated not only on their efficiency, but also on their effect
on downstream processing.