In this study, a techno-economic
analysis is performed to analyze
the effect of the choice of microalgal species on the economics of
microalgae-based lipid production. Three microalgal species (Chlorella vulgaris, Tetraselmis suecica, and Nannochloropsis sp.) are selected given their
disparate cell characteristics and high promise as feedstocks for
commercial-scale microalgae-based lipid production. In the economic
analysis, significantly different total production costs are obtained
for the three species ($6.5/kglipid, $7.0/kglipid, and $8.3/kglipid for Chlorella vulgaris, Tetraselmis suecica, and Nannochloropsis sp., respectively), and the percentage of each processing stage
contributing to the total cost also turned out to be quite different
depending on the species. On the basis of the economic analysis, a
sensitivity analysis is performed to analyze the effect of different
cell characteristics on the overall economics, and to identify the
most influential characteristic. The further scenario-based analysis
shows that the economic results, as well as the relative standings
of the species, change significantly when processing technologies
are changed, pointing to the need to optimize the processing pathway
individually for each species for a fair evaluation.
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