Microfiltration closed system

The microalgae are cultured in bioreactors under solar or artiflcial light in the presence of carbon dioxide and salts. The bioreactors may be closed systems made of polyethylene sleeves rather than open pools. Optimal conditions for pigment production are low to medium light intensity and medium temperatures (20 to 30°C). Pigment extraction is achieved by cell breakage, extraction into water or buffered solution, and centrifugation to separate out the filtrate. The filtrate may then be partly purified and sterilized by microfiltration and spray dried or lyophilized. 

Efforts to stabilize BLMs by the use of polymerizable lipids have been successful, but the electrochemical properties of these membranes were greatly compromised and ion channel phenomena could not be observed [21]. Microfiltration and polycarbonate filters, polyimide mesh, and hydrated gels have been used successfully as stabilizing supports for the formation of black lipid films [22-25] and these systems were observed to retain their electrical and permeability characteristics [24]. Poly(octadec-l-ene-maleic anhydride) (PA-18) was found to be an excellent intermediate layer for interfacing phospholipids onto solid substrates, and is sufficiently hydrophilic to retain water for unimpeded ion transfer at the electrode-PA-18 interface [26]. Hydrostatic stabilization of solventless BLMs has been achieved by the transfer of two lipid monolayers onto the aperture of a closed cell compartment however, the use of a system for automatic digital control of the transmembrane pressure difference was necessary [27]. 

Most membrane processes operate by means of cross-flow filtration, in which only part of the fluid passes through the membrane as filtrate (or, more correctly, permeate, since some membrane processes operate by permeation rather than filtration) the retained part, the concentrate or retentate, conseqnently becomes more concentrated in particulate or solute species. Membrane systems are frequently operated in a closed loop, with the retentate recycled, and final concentrate is taken from the loop in proportion to the added feed suspension. Whereas microfiltration utilizes both through-flow and cross-flow filtration, cross-flow is the nsnal mode for the other membrane filtration processes, and has thereby grown to its present level of importance. 

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