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Articles | Sustainable Environmental Insight | Volume 2 - Issue 1 - 2025 | 40-50 | https://doi.org/10.53623/sein.v2i1.684
© 2025 by the author(s), and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License

Flocculation Efficiency of Organic and Inorganic Coagulants in Microalgae Bloom Harvesting

Author(s): Chi Hien Lee 1 , Paran Gani 2 ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1650-4241 , Siti Nor Aishah Mohd Salleh 1 ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2902-6031 , Hazel Monica Matias-Peralta 3 ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8810-4864
Author(s) information:
1 School of Applied Sciences (SAS), Faculty of Integrated Life Sciences, Quest International University, Malaysia.
2 Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia.
3 College of Fisheries – Fresh Aquaculture Center, Central Luzon State University, Philippines.

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Sustainable Environmental Insight

Volume 2 - Issue 1 - 2025

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The present study investigated the performance of inorganic (alum) and organic (chitosan) coagulants in the flocculation-harvesting of microalgae blooms. Water samples were collected from the eutrophic Gunung Lang Recreational Park, Ipoh, Malaysia. The analysis results indicated moderate contamination, with the early stages of algal bloom suggested by high pH and moderate turbidity. Optimisation of coagulant dosage and pH was carried out through a jar-test experiment and Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The best performance was observed with alum, achieving 98.7% harvesting efficiency at 105 mg/l and pH 8.5, while chitosan reached 86% efficiency at 180 mg/l and pH 5.0. Statistical analysis revealed that pH and dosage significantly impacted flocculation performance. These results demonstrated that alum and chitosan were cost-effective and efficient coagulants. Moreover, chitosan presented a biodegradable alternative, offering environmental sustainability in the long term. This study suggested that flocculation could be a competitive and scalable technique for improving water quality and recovering microalgae biomass, with potential applications in large-scale water treatment.

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SUBMITTED: 08 May 2025
ACCEPTED: 30 May 2025
PUBLISHED: 9 June 2025
SUBMITTED to ACCEPTED: 22 days
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53623/sein.v2i1.684

Cite this article
Lee, C. H. ., Gani, P., Mohd Salleh, S. N. A. ., & Matias-Peralta, H. M. . (2025). Flocculation Efficiency of Organic and Inorganic Coagulants in Microalgae Bloom Harvesting. Sustainable Environmental Insight, 2(1), 40–50. https://doi.org/10.53623/sein.v2i1.684
Keywords
Microalgae harvesting Flocculation Algal blooms Coagulants Water treatment Biomass recovery
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