SEE PROFILE

mtb, en, K 53, to i stin utum by au-ra ate gge 22 % w/v, the energy consumption to dewater C. vulgaris and P. tricornutum is 0.84 kW h/m3 and 3 been terial cient m st the ring d esting, only p seriously decreased. Membrane technology is generally cheaper than applying centrifuges and is known to be not energy intensive. It thus forms a very promising technology for algal harvesting and additionally offers the advantages of almost complete retention of biomass (Mouchet and Bonnelye, 1998) as well as potential disinfection via removal of protozoa and viruses (Judd, 2006). Furthermore, no the loss of targeted products from the cell interior. Therefore, application of submerged microfiltration that applies lower pres-sures in absence of any cross flow velocity is expected to be more efficient (Babel and Takizawa, 2010). This system is commonly ap-plied in submerged membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for wastewater treatment, as it is cheaper due to the absence of pressure resistant membrane housings, and proven to offer lower energy consump-tion (Judd, 2006; Le-Clech et al., 2006). In such immersed system, the shear is generally provided by coarse air bubbles, thus the limited exposure of microalgal cell to enhanced shear rates is als