Possibility of enhancing algae drying by integrating infrasound.

Abstract: With the aim of designing an infrasound-integrated technology which can enhance the algae drying performance, this thesis provided the theoretical possibility of using infrasound as an algae dehydration technology. To test the relation between algae drying speed and other three parameters namely sound frequency, sound pressure and sample mass, four major experimental groups including initial experiments and core experiments with fifteen sub-experimental groups are designed. Results of the experiments shows expected accordance with the theoretical inferences of infrasound being an algae drying technology. Experiment steps and specifications are presented as the research methodology. A real system with the drying capacity of 2 ton fresh algae per day are designed based on the experimental calculations and results. Several revisions including air circulation and infrasound resonance are made when scaling up the research from experimental level up to industrial level. Other specifications of the real system design follow the experiment results with regard of the research consistency. Freeze drying technology is selected for the comparative cost analysis including manufacturing costs and energy consumptions. Results shows infrasound-integrated technology has a relatively low energy consumption whereas it costs more manufacturing costs than freeze drying technology. Research assumptions, limitations and recommendations for this research are described in this article. From the author’s perspective, this paper can be used as an initiation and instruction for larger scale researches in regard of infrasound-integrated algae dehydration/drying.