Comparative energy life-cycle analyses of microalgal biomass production in open ponds and photobioreactors

Jorquera, Orlando; Kiperstok, Asher; Sales, Emerson Andrade; Embiruçu, Marcelo; Ghirardi, Maria L.

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2009.09.038

Cited by 725 publications

(399 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

370

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…To compare the Highly Productive Case with advanced algal biofuel production systems, the main assumptions of the Highly Productive Case are shown in Table 5. [3], 0.25 [11], 0.02 [14], 0.5 [27], 0.18-0.39 [17], 0.2-0.35 [46], 0.3 [58], 0.5 [59], 0.23 [60], 0.44 [61], 0.25 [62], 0.15 [63], 0.21-0.25 [57], 0.16-0.75 [64] Mixing Energy (J/L-d) 100…”

Section: Current Feasibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(1) using waste and recycled nutrients (e.g., waste water and animal waste) [11,15,[25][26][27][28]65,71,72]; (2) using waste heat and flue-gas from industrial plants [44,59], carbon in wastewater [28], or developing energy-efficient means of using atmospheric CO 2 ; (3) developing ultra-productive algal strains (e.g., genetically modified organisms) [73][74][75]; (4) minimizing pumping [58,76,77]; (5) establishing energy-efficient water treatment and recycling methods [55]; (6) employing energy-efficient harvesting methods, such as chemical flocculation [66,78,79], and (7) avoiding separation via distillation.…”

Section: Innovation Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Comprehensive Evaluation of Algal Biofuel Production: Experimental and Target Results

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Worldwide, algal biofuel research and development efforts have focused on increasing the competitiveness of algal biofuels by increasing the energy and financial return on investments, reducing water intensity and resource requirements, and increasing algal productivity. In this study, analyses are presented in each of these areas-costs, resource needs, and productivity-for two cases: (1) an Experimental Case, using mostly measured data for a lab-scale system, and (2) a theorized Highly Productive Case that represents an optimized commercial-scale production system, albeit one that relies on full-price water, nutrients, and carbon dioxide. For both cases, the analysis described herein concludes that the energy and financial return on investments are less than 1, the water intensity is greater than that for conventional fuels, and the amounts of required resources OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2012, 5 1944 at a meaningful scale of production amount to significant fractions of current consumption (e.g., nitrogen). The analysis and presentation of results highlight critical areas for advancement and innovation that must occur for sustainable and profitable algal biofuel production can occur at a scale that yields significant petroleum displacement. To this end, targets for energy consumption, production cost, water consumption, and nutrient consumption are presented that would promote sustainable algal biofuel production. Furthermore, this work demonstrates a procedure and method by which subsequent advances in technology and biotechnology can be framed to track progress.

show abstract

Section: Current Feasibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Innovation Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive Evaluation of Algal Biofuel Production: Experimental and Target Results

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Significant inconsistencies can arise when the requirements for entire production steps are omitted or oversimplified. Several systems-level analyses have been published for renewable diesel from algae (primarily biodiesel), each with a different amount of information regarding energy, cost, and material requirements [1,16,17,20,22,37,58,88,95,106,111]. These systems-level cost analyses provide good outlines for conducting cost estimates, but sometimes lack specificity to algal species or growth conditions, and may omit some required processing steps.…”

Section: Energy Materials and Cost Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework to Report the Production of Renewable Diesel from Algae

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…Closed systems can achieve more than thirteen times the volumetric productivity than raceway ponds systems as they allow better capture of incident radiation, protection from contamination, more effective gas/liquid mass transfer, and a higher degree of control over pond conditions (Chisti, 2007) (Jorquera, et al, 2010). In addition, closed systems have much smaller areal footprints and require smaller volumes of water than open ponds, resulting in more productive facilities and higher biomass concentrations at harvest (Chisti, 2007 (Jorquera, et al, 2010) (Sierra, et al, 2008).…”

Section: Tubular Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ponds are most commonly constructed out of earth, plastic, or concrete, and water depths range from 10-50 cm to optimize the absorption of light by the algae (Jorquera, et al, 2010). In the raceway configuration, algae inoculant is fed to the pond in front of a rotating paddlewheel.…”

Section: Open Pond Racewaysmentioning

confidence: 99%