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•Electrocoagulation (EC) has high harvesting efficiency (E) for Chlorella vulgaris.•Charge concentration was identified as the main process parameter (q ≥ 14.4C/L)•E > 95% was ...achieved for biomass (0.2–1.8 g/L), pH 7 and phosphates < 0.15mgP/L.•Energy costs of harvesting using EC were 83–89% lower than centrifugation.•EC-harvested C. vulgaris is suitable for human consumption (iron < 4 mg/g)
Centrifugation is the most commonly used method for harvesting autotrophically produced microalgae, but it is expensive due to high energy demands. With the aim of reducing these costs, we tested electrocoagulation with iron electrodes for harvesting Chlorella vulgaris. During extensive lab-scale experiments, the following factors were studied to achieve a high harvesting efficiency and a low iron content in the harvested biomass: electric charge, initial biomass concentration, pH, temperature, agitation intensity, residual salt content and electrolysis time. A harvesting efficiency greater than 95% was achieved over a broad range of conditions and the residual iron content in the biomass complied with legislative requirements for food. Using electrocoagulation as the pre-concentration step prior to centrifugation, total energy costs were reduced to 0.136 kWh/kg of dry biomass, which is less than 14% of that for centrifugation alone. Our data show that electrocoagulation is a suitable and cost-effective method for harvesting microalgae.
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•Novel continuous electrocoagulation reactor was developed, capacity 240 L/h.•Chlorella biomass harvesting efficiency was higher than 85 %.•Harvested biomass was suitable for human ...consumption, Fe content below 4 mg/g.•Power consumption was reduced by 80 % compared to centrifugation alone.
The most frequently used method to harvest microalgae on an industrial scale is centrifugation, although this has very high energy costs. To reduce these costs, a continuous electrocoagulation process for harvesting Chlorella vulgaris was developed and tested using a pilot-scale 111 L working volume device consisting of an electrolyser with iron electrodes, aggregation channel and lamellar settler. The flow rate of the microalgal suspension through the device was 240 L/h. When using controlled cultivation and subsequent electrocoagulation, a high harvesting efficiency (above 85%), a low Fe contamination in the harvested biomass (<4 mg Fe/g dry biomass, a harvested biomass complied with legislative requirements for food) and significant energy savings were achieved. When comparing electrocoagulation and subsequent centrifugation with the use of centrifugation alone, energy savings were 80 % for a biomass harvesting concentration of 0.23 g/L. Electrocoagulation was thus proven to be a feasible pre-concentration method for harvesting microalgae.
Timely provision of developmental services can improve outcomes for children 0 to 3 years old with developmental delays. Early Intervention (EI) provides free developmental services to children under ...age 3 years; however, data suggests that many children referred to EI never connect to the program. We sought to ensure that 70% of patients referred to EI from an academic primary care clinic serving a low-income population were evaluated within 120 days of referral.
Recognizing that our baseline system of EI referrals had multiple routes to referral without an ability to track referral outcome, we implemented a multifaceted referral process with (1) a centralized electronic referral system used by providers, (2) patient navigators responsible for processing all EI referrals submitted by providers, and (3) a tracking system postreferral to facilitate identification of patients failing to connect with EI.
The percentage of patients evaluated by EI within 120 days increased from a baseline median of 50% to a median of 72% after implementation of the systems (
= 309). After implementation, the centralized referral system was used a median of 90% of the time. Tracking of referral outcomes revealed decreases in families refusing evaluations and improvements in exchange of information with EI.
Rates of connection to EI improved substantially when referrals were centralized in the clinic and patient navigators were responsible for tracking referral outcomes. Knowledge of EI intake processes and relationships between the practice and the EI site are essential to ensure successful connections.
Many online multimodal journey planners already exist, but they are usually limited to a specific geographical location or mode. There is a need to develop door-to-door, cross-border and multimodal ...solutions to provide a seamless user experience. This paper develops a novel solution using a recently established Open Journey Planner (OJP) standard supporting open and distributed journey planning. The OJP4Danube concept is presented, where the system architecture, the connection of different local journey planning services, and the proposed user interface are discussed. Key features to include are defined, particularly those related to enabling the combination of micromobility modes (e.g. cycling and walking) together with available public transport routes. This approach is one of the pioneer works in this field testing the applicability of the OJP standard in a realistic environment.
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