Fabrication and Characterization of HAR Microfluidic Device to Concentrate Microalgae

Algae are a promising candidate for large-scale production of biofuels, an important source of renewable energy. However, a significant portion (20-40%) of the cost in the traditional processing comes from concentrating (dewatering) the algae from the dilute concentrations (similar to 0.1 wt%). A continuous flow microfluidic dewatering chip has been designed using an innovative, patented lateral displacement array (LDA) design. The array consists of densely packed vertical posts whose arrangement is such that particles above a certain critical diameter flowing through them are displaced to one side and in mirrored pattern on the other side, thereby getting displaced towards the center from both sides and thus concentrated in center. Such chips, patterned by X-ray lithography were used to fabricate microfluidic devices. Fluidic tests/characterization show that the triangular posts compared to that of circular require lower pressure to flow the algae and pressure decreases with increase in height of the posts/structures.