Optimisation of Tray Drier Microalgae Dewatering Techniques Using Response Surface Methodology

Ruth Anyanwu, Cristina Rodriguez, Andy Durrant, Abdul Olabi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The feasibility of the application of a tray drier in dewatering microalgae was investigated. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to evaluate and optimise the effect of air temperature and air velocity as independent variables on the dewatering efficiency as a response function. The significance of independent variables and their interactions was tested by means of analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a 95% confidence level. Results indicate that the air supply temperature was the main parameter affecting dewatering efficiency, while air velocity had a slight effect on the process. The optimum operating conditions to achieve maximum dewatering were determined: air velocities and temperatures ranged between 4 to 10 m/s and 40 to 56 °C respectively. An optimised dewatering efficiency of 92.83% was achieved at air an velocity of 4 m/s and air temperature of 48 °C. Energy used per 1 kg of dry algae was 0.34 kWh.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2327
JournalEnergies
Volume11
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Sept 2018

Bibliographical note

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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