The algae harvesting & water company for the algae industry
Liqoflux focuses on algae harvesting & water treatment for the algae industry. We offer all algae harvesting & water treatment solutions to make your algae production successful: from purifying the water for algae cultivation, harvesting your algae culture to recycling the water back to production.
We have Liqoflux membrane units in operation in multiple countries (Australia, NZ, Vietnam, India, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Morocco, Belgium, Germany, France, Norway, The Netherlands, Namibia, Iceland and US) working with different algae strains and delivering excellent performance.
Can we also help you in harvesting your algae culture and/or recycling of your water? Please contact us.
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We have over 10 years worldwide experience in harvesting algae with our Liqoflux membrane solutions
With Liqoflux the Capex and Opex of the algae downstream process is reduced significantly
Implementation of the Liqoflux solution as the first harvesting step reduces the investment in centrifuges
Liqoflux concentrates 100% of the algae biomass, the clean water/media can be recycled back to the algae production facility
With the Liqoflux membrane solutions high concentrations can be reached e.g. 180 grammes/liter (18% Dry Weight) for Nannochloropsis
Liqoflux concentrates all algae species successfully: fresh & marine water algae and algae with strong cell walls & very fragile algae
This is all possible because of our innovative LiqoCap® Ultra Filtration membrane and automated concentration process that results in a high stable throughput, minimum fouling and 100% retention of algae cells.
Photo: Liqoflux LF16AL22 unit with 16 LiqoCap UF membranes at A4F Algatec Eco Business Park in Lisbon Portugal
ALGATEC installed > 32 m3/h Liqoflux capacity
In January 2022 Liqoflux and partner A4F successfully commissioned 2 Liqoflux units which 16 LiqoCap filters at ALGATEC Eco Business Park, the large industrial algae multi-technology production site of 14 ha in Lissabon. With these 2 Liqoflux units in operation...
Harvesting Spirulina
Liqoflux introduces a new highly effective technology to harvest Spirulina algae cultures, the vibrating sieve. Together with our vibrating sieve partner we develop fully automated skids, including PLC, pumps, tanks and CIP process to help our clients harvesting their...
Another Liqoflux unit commissioned
This week we commissioned a new Liqoflux algae harvesting unit at Radius Thomas More in Belgium. We are proud to be their partner and add significant value to the algae harvesting process. The first algae harvesting runs show excellent performance in throughput,...
Solutions
Water Purification
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Liqoflux delivers water purification solutions to purify fresh and salt water for the algae cultivation/ production
Algae Harvesting
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Liqoflux delivers algae pre-concentration and harvesting solutions to dewater the algae culture for harvesting
Water Recycling
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Liqoflux delivers water/media recycling solutions to clean the water/media for recycling
Innovative membrane technologie: LiqoCap®
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The LiqoCap® Ultra Filtration (UF) membranes are the key components of the Liqoflux solutions to effectively separate the algae from the water. Liqoflux selected the right filters for algae harvesting and water recycling. The membrane technology are selected with the algae specific requirements in mind: stable throughput (flux), minimal fouling and reliable 100% retention of algae cells.
The Liqoflux solutions with Liqocap UF membranes are helping our algae clients all over the world with the concentration of low to high volume algae cultures. The LiqoCap UF membranes contain capillaries with increased inner diameter and small pore sizes to increase the performance and minimize the fouling. With the new LiqoCap UF membranes with an even larger capillair, high-end concentrations can be achieved e.g. 180 grammes/liter (18% DW) for Nanochloropsis.
With our membrane technology we concentrate all algae strains. We have extensive worldwide experience with all kind of algae strains, not only algae with strong cell walls but also very fragile algae.
What LiqoCap UF membranes differs from the competition is:
High operating reliability
Long service life with low maintenance
Good antifouling properties
Tolerance over wide pH range
Easy to clean
Based on client’s data, together with our membrane partners, we are striving for continuous improvements on the LiqoCap UF membranes, our automated processes and skid.
Innovative automated algae concentration process
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It’s not only the LiqoCap UF membrane that makes the difference, also the Liqoflux fully automated algae concentration process is a key component. Over the last 10 years we improved our process significantly and optimized the process with a 100% focus on the algae industry. We engineer en manufacture our Liqoflux solutions based on the five following principles: 100% concentration of the algae biomass, high & stable flux, easy to operate, easy to clean and reliable.
The Liqoflux units are all PLC controlled and fully automated. One of the unique functionalities of the Liqoflux solution is that the client can choose the concentration factor for the process and manage the dry weight (DW) of the end-concentrate. We also implemented remote monitoring to help our clients in optimizing the algae concentration form a distance. Also the Cleaning In Place (CIP) process is fully integrated and automated in our units.
Recently we added a new functionality to our units: the automated desalination or rinsing functionality. This new functionality makes it possible to reduce the salt content of the algae concentrate and producing a ‘cleaner’ final algae end product.
Our systems are made of reliable, high quality class A technical components and manufactured under rigorous quality control. All materials used in the Liqoflux units that are in contact with the algae culture/water are FDA, WRAS, KIWA or VEWIN approved for drinking water systems.
New technology to harvest Spirulina: Liqoflux Vibrating Sieve
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Liqoflux introduces a new highly effective technology to harvest Spirulina algae cultures, the Liqoflux Vibrating Sieve.
Together with our vibrating sieve partner we develop fully automated skids, including PLC, pumps, tanks and CIP process to help our clients harvesting their Spirulina algae cultures.
With the Liqoflux vibrating sieve solution Spirulina concentrations of ~ 80-100 grammes/liter can be reached.
Our LiqoCap UF membrane solution can ‘clean’ the water for recycling.
Algae harvesting: Proven Liqoflux algae concentration solution with LiqoCap UF membranes
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The Liqoflux solutions with LiqoCap UF membranes are helping our algae clients all over the world with the (pre-)concentration of low to high volume algae cultures. In harvesting high volumes of algae cultures the challenge is to process the high volumes in a limited timeframe and, at the same time, optimize the algae harvesting costs. To optimize the algae harvesting costs we advise a 2-step algae harvesting solution with the LiqoCap UF membranes:
Step 1
Start with the Liqoflux algae pre-concentration system to separate the ‘easy’ water (more than 95% of the water!) and pre-concentrate the algae culture up to 10-40 gr/liter or higher. The clean water, free from algae cells and bacteria is ready for recycling to your algae production system.
Step 2
Select the right separation technology (*) to separate the ‘difficult’ water and produce a high dry solid algae paste. The effluent of the centrifuge contains the ‘lost’ algae cells and can be recycled back to step 1. This process harvests 100% of the algae biomass!
(*) New LiqoCap UF membranes with larger capillary size can be used in step 2 to reach high end concentrations e.g. 180 grammes/liter for Nannochloropsis. For higher end-concentrations a centrifuge is needed.
Liqoflux algae pre-concentration & harvesting systems specially designed for the algae industry
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We know the challenges in the algae downstream process and the requirements for the pre-concentration and harvesting of algae cultures. The Liqoflux systems, including the LiqoCap UF membranes, are specially designed and built for the algae industry. Algae processing is a tough process for membranes. Normally UF filters show initial good performance but after a few weeks/months drop significant in flux and/or increasing fibres breakage. With our membranes we show consistent performance at clients and have a 1 year guarantee on leakage (broken fibers), which is unique in the industry!
We selected innovative membranes for the Liqoflux algae pre-concentration & harvesting System
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The Liqoflux system separates the algae culture into a concentrate containing all the algae cells and clean effluent water, free from algae and bacteria. The clean water is ready for recycling to your algae production system.
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The innovative membrane properties result in a stable flux and minimal fouling.
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The smooth structure of the membranes and the well designed flow in the Liqoflux system prevents algae from damaging and keeps the algae-cells fully intact.
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100% separation and concentration of the algae biomass, no loss of algae.
The Liqoflux system is a containerized, plug-and-play solution
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We deliver standard (containerized) units for processing up to 80 m3/h of algae culture.
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The operation of the Liqoflux system is fully automatic and PLC controlled.
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The concentration factor is adjustable to your specific requirements.
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The Liqoflux system is suitable for food-grade and both fresh and marine water applications.
The cost per m3 clean water produced from the algae culture is best in class
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Due to the low investment costs and low energy requirements you optimize the algae harvesting costs.
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With the Liqoflux 2-step harvesting approach the investment in harvesting equipment, yearly Capex & Opex and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) per kg dry weight algae are reduced by 50-75%
Liqoflux Water recycling system
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For many algae producers, recycling of the effluent water, after harvesting the algae, is an absolute necessity. It’s our experience that centrifuges do not harvest 100% of the algae biomass. The effluent of the centrifuge contains the ‘lost’ algae cells. The Liqoflux Water/media recycling system processes the effluent into (1) a concentrate containing all the ‘lost’ algae cells and (2) clean water.
The clean water, free from algae cells and bacteria is ready for recycling to your algae production system. The concentrate can be recycled back to the centrifuge for harvesting. This process harvests 100% of the algae biomass!
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We deliver plug-and-play Water recycling systems, using the right materials for both fresh and marine applications.
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With the LiqoCap UF membranes, specially designed for the Algae industry, we secure the production of clean water.
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For water recycling we have an integrated Liqoflux algae water recycling system containing: Disk filter unit, Ultra Filtration unit with LiqoCap filters, UV unis and if necessary e.g. Advanced Oxidation unit (peroxide + UV)
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The Liqoflux water recycling system separates the effluent of the harvesting centrifuge into a concentrate containing the (lost) algae cells and clean effluent water, free from algae and bacteria.
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The clean water is ready for recycling to your algae production system and the concentrate in recycled back to the harvesting centrifuge resulting in 100% separation of the Algae Biomass.
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The operation of the Liqoflux water recycling system is fully automatic and PLC controlled.
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The cost per m3 clean water produced from the algae culture is best in class.
Products
Proven technology
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Liqoflux demonstrates excellent performance results at client sites working with different algae strains in both algae harvesting as well as water recycling. We offer solutions to process low volumes of algae cultures, to (containerized) solutions for high volume processing at algae production sites from 10 m3/h up to 80 m3/h. The flow rate is dependent on e.g. the algae strain, concentration of the algae culture, water quality and water temperature.
Liqoflux pilot systems:
Liqoflux LF1AL22 & LF2AL22 units
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The LiqoCap pilot systems contain 1 or 2 LiqoCap® UF membranes. The processing capacity varies from 1 – 1,5 m3/h with the LF1AL22 to 2 – 3 m3/h with the LF2AL22.
Liqoflux production systems:
Liqoflux LF6AL22 till LF32AL22 units
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The Liqoflux Production systems contain between 6 and 32 LiqoCap UF membranes. The processing capacity varies from 6-9 m3/h with the LF6AL22 to 32 – 48 m3/h with the LF32AL22.
Vibrating sieve systems for harvesting Spirulina
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Liqoflux Vibrating Sieve systems have a diameter of 800 – 1200 mm and are very effective in concentrating large volumes of Spirulina algae cultures.
Specific requirements
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Please contact us for your specific requirements. When you submit this contact form, we will get back to you.