Measurement of acoustic properties of microalgae and implications for the performance of ultrasonic harvesting systems

Microalgae are a promising feedstock for biofuel production, but difficulties associated with harvesting suspended cultures contribute to the high costs of algal feedstock production. Ultrasonic harvesting has been identified as a potential low-cost technique, but limited data are available on the response of microalgae cells in the presence of an acoustic field. The acoustic radiation force acting on a cell depends upon cell size and the acoustic contrast factor (ACF) of the cell in the media. The ACF depends upon the density and compressibility of the cell and the media. Cell size and ACF were measured for Microchloropsis gaditana, Nannochloropsis oculata, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The average ACFs, which were determined by measuring the densities and sound velocities of suspensions containing varying concentrations of cells in growth media, were 0.04 (range = 0.03–0.05) for M. gaditana, 0.02 (range = 0.01–0.04) for N. oculata, 0.05 (range = 0.04–0.07) for P. tricornutum, and 0.05 (range = 0.049–0.053) for C. reinhardtii. The ratio of the acoustic radiation force to the drag force would be highest for C. reinhardtii cells due to their larger effective radius (5.6 μm compared to 1.9–2.7 μm for the other species). The effective ACF of C. reinhardtii was also evaluated by recording the motion of cells in the presence of an acoustic field, using particle tracking velocimetry, and then modeling the recorded motion using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The result (ACF = 0.04) demonstrated agreement with the density/sound velocity meter method. Experiments with starch null sta6 mutant C. reinhardtii cells demonstrated that the effective ACF can transition from positive to zero and eventually become negative as microalgae cells accumulate lipids. The dynamic nature of the ACF represents an opportunity and a challenge for acoustic harvesting of algal cells.