Algae has several potential uses within areas such as carbon capture, heavy metal recovery, or even nutritional supplements. However, the extraction and drying of the algae remain a significant challenge when working with algae.
The drying kinetics of algae has not yet been extensively researched and this project therefore aims to investigate the effect of using different types of drying meshes. For large scale drying algae is generally left on mesh trays to dry. The aim of this research is to characterize the effect of different mesh models will have on drying samples of the filamentous algae Oedogonium which is currently being researched for its carbon capture abilities. Filamentous algae’s like Oedogonium are especially popular among algae growers because its filamentous structure makes it easy to harvest. Better understanding how this alga responds to different drying methods could thus contribute to optimizing drying techniques and reduce energy and time required when using Oedogonium for carbon capture. It is also probable that the results found in this study could be applied to other types of filamentous algae and thus have relevance for the entire algae-growing industry.