Fig. 3 Energy consumption for stand-alone dewatering by centrifugation

TFF Disc stack Belt filter

■ HTR □ ELR

Fig. 5 Comparison of the energy consumption of dewatering units operating as a (a) stand-alone options and (b) options preceding flocculation

process by up to 98%. Flocculation is particularly critical when the culture volumes are extremely large. Heasman et al. [14] stated that a flocculation efficiency of 80% in a 24-h period is about the average standard requirement for a typical large-scale flocculation work. This study assumes no further processing requirement due to residual accumulation of flocculants, as shown by Lubian [18] that P. tricornutum achieved approximately 90% efficiency from diminutive flocculant dosages.