Concentration of microalgae for the production of Nori and related food products Concentración de microalgas para la producción de Nori y productos derivados

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Abstract
A foodstuff has been developed which can be used as an alternative to the traditional macroalgal food products known as Nori, Wakame and Yokan, in Japan. The incorporation of Spirulina microalgae in the Yokan substitution distinguishes it from the traditional Japanese product. Spirulina in the Nori -like form offers advantages over the traditional products that include purity control (the traditional product is harvested from the sea and subject to the vagaries of environmental pollution), flexibility, and cost for comparable nutritional content. In addition, the Spirulina has a distinctive, appealing colour which sets it apart from traditional Nori. Most Spirulina production facilities consist of large outdoor reactors that are faced with the removal of large quantities of water to recover cell mass because of the very dilute concentrations present. A concentration method involving the radial migration of Spirulina across the streamlines of laminar flow fits nicely into the niche between the reactor concentration and the concentration required for the aforementioned products. This report presents recent developments for the improvement of the concentration technology which include a theoretical driven design of branched fluid particle separators.