Biodiesel production by microalgal biotechnology

Huang, Guanhua; Chen, Feng; Dong, Wei; Zhang, Xuewu; Gu, Chen

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.06.016

Cited by 902 publications

(355 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Fermenters have a more compact layout, in which algae grow heterotrophically in a stirred fluid (medium) with a very high density. The input of cultivation phase is electric energy: in the case of open ponds, it is required to mix and pump the water and to supply CO 2 to the algae [19,25,54]; in the case of fermenters, energy is used to continuously stir the fluid [55e57].…”

Section: Appendix a Biorefinery Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Load following with Small Modular Reactors (SMR): A real options analysis

Locatelli

Boarin

Pellegrino

et al. 2015

Energy

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a b s t r a c tLoad following is the potential for a power plant to adjust its power output as demand and price for electricity fluctuates throughout the day. In nuclear power plants, this is done by inserting control rods into the reactor pressure vessel. This operation is very inefficient as nuclear power generation is composed almost entirely of fixed and sunk costs; therefore, lowering the power output doesn't significantly reduce generating costs and the plant is thermo-mechanical stressed. A more efficient solution is to maintain the primary circuit at full power and to use the excess power for cogeneration. This paper assesses the technical-economic feasibility of this approach when applied to Small Modular Reactors (SMR) with two cogeneration technologies: algae-biofuel and desalinisation. Multiple SMR are of particular interest due to the fractional nature of their power output. The result shows that the power required by an algae-biofuel plant is not sufficient to justify the load following approach, whereas it is in the case of desalination. The successive economic analysis, based on the real options approach, demonstrates the economic viability of the desalination in several scenarios. In conclusion, the coupling of SMR with a desalination plant is a realistic solution to perform efficient load following.

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Section: Appendix a Biorefinery Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Load following with Small Modular Reactors (SMR): A real options analysis

Locatelli

Boarin

Pellegrino

et al. 2015

Energy

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“…*Co-products composition depends on the conversion process used. a [20,[23][24][25][26][27][28], b [11,33,37,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67], c [11,33,56,59,64], d [27,33,[36][37][38][39][40] Transesterification of Extracted Lipids Figure 2 is a flow chart showing the main processes that are required to produce biodiesel, a form of renewable diesel, from extracted algal lipids, which is the most commonly investigated of the three pathways presented here. After algae are grown in an open pond, photobioreactor, or fermentor (i.e., heterotrophic growth), the algae are harvested from the growth medium.…”

Section: Production Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Liquefaction converts high molecular weight organic compounds to low molecular weight oils at temperatures around 250-350°C, high pressure (0.5-20 MPa), and often with the aid of a catalyst [11, 33, 37, 56-58, 77, 78]. Pyrolysis is defined as the conversion of high molecular weight organic compounds to oil under high temperature (~480-700°C), in the absence of oxygen, and under operating pressures of~0.1-0.5 MPa [37,59,[77][78][79].…”

Section: Thermochemical Biomass Conversionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework to Report the Production of Renewable Diesel from Algae

et al. 2010

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Recently, algae have received significant interest as a potential feedstock for renewable diesel (such as biodiesel), and many researchers have attempted to quantify this potential. Some of these attempts are less useful because they have not incorporated specific values of algal lipid content, have not included processing inefficiencies, or omitted processing steps required for renewable diesel production. Furthermore, the associated energy, materials, and costs requirements are sometimes omitted. The accuracy and applicability of these estimates can be improved by using data that are more specific, including all relevant information for renewable diesel production, and by presenting information with more relevant metrics. To determine whether algae are a viable source for renewable diesel, three questions that must be answered are (1) how much renewable diesel can be produced from algae, (2) what is the financial cost of production, and (3) what is the energy ratio of production? To help accurately answer these questions, we propose an analytical framework and associated nomenclature system for characterizing renewable diesel production from algae. The three production pathways discussed in this study are the transesterification of extracted algal lipids, thermochemical conversion of algal biomass, and conversion of secreted algal oils. The nomenclature system is initially presented from a top-level perspective that is applicable to all production pathways for renewable diesel from algae. Then, the nomenclature is expanded to characterize the production of renewable diesel (specifically, biodiesel) from extracted algal lipids in detail (cf. Appendix 2). The analytical framework uses the presented nomenclature system and includes three main principles: using appropriate reporting metrics, using symbolic notation to represent unknown values, and presenting results that are specific to algal species, growth conditions, and product composition.

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“…Many excellent reviews have compared the various designs and provided photographs and illustrations of these bioreactor systems [66,96,190,[193][194][195][196][197][198][199][200][201]. However, few papers have examined statistical relationships from these bioreactor studies, with the exception of Williams and Laurens [199], who determined that closed bioreactors were more productive than open systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dependency of Microalgal Production on Biomass and the Relationship to Yield and Bioreactor Scale-up for Biofuels: a Statistical Analysis of 60+ Years of Algal Bioreactor Data

Granata

2016

Bioenerg. Res.

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Since the 1950s, research has been undertaken to promote algal oil as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. This paper statistically analyzed 317 studies of algal bioreactors to determine the interdependence of biological and physical factors affecting oil yield. Algal growth rates in bioreactors often (71 %) exceeded maximal growth rates cited in the literature, and biomass was generally higher than maximum values cited for laboratory cultures. Growth rate decreased with increasing biomass, and biomass, not growth, dominated production rate, which was higher in closed than in open bioreactors. Except for Chlorella cultured in horizontal tubular reactors, there were no statistical differences in algal production when grown in different types of reactors. Production decreased with increasing bioreactor volume, but increased with surface to volume ratio of the bioreactor. In contrast, estimated oil yields increased with bioreactor volume. Four groups of bioreactors were identified based on their oil yields and biomass production: (1) higher yields with lower production were limited to open systems with volumes ≥10 4 L; (2) higher yields with higher production were almost exclusively closed bioreactors from 10 2 to 10 3 L; (3) lower yields with higher production were closed systems from 3 to 99 L; and (4) lower yields with lower production were a mix of open and closed systems with diverse volumes. Based on these groups, it is suggested that intermediate volume bioreactors with higher surface to volume ratios could give higher yields and production rates and would avoid the environmental and scale-up problems inherent in large bioreactors currently being used commercially to culture microalgae.

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Biodiesel production by microalgal biotechnology

Cited by 902 publications

References 53 publications

Load following with Small Modular Reactors (SMR): A real options analysis

Load following with Small Modular Reactors (SMR): A real options analysis

A Framework to Report the Production of Renewable Diesel from Algae

Dependency of Microalgal Production on Biomass and the Relationship to Yield and Bioreactor Scale-up for Biofuels: a Statistical Analysis of 60+ Years of Algal Bioreactor Data

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