Analysis of water footprint of a photobioreactor microalgae biofuel production system from blue, green and lifecycle perspectives

Batan, Liaw; Quinn, Jason C.; Bradley, Thomas H.

doi:10.1016/j.algal.2013.02.003

Cited by 52 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Dynamic seasonal modeling has been shown to be an important next step in scalability assessments. have been made to understand the resource requirements associated with microalgae biofuel production systems and the corresponding scalability (ANL; NREL; PNNL, June 2012;Batan et al, 2013;Davis et al, 2014b; Fortier & Sturm, 2012;Moody et al, 2014;Pate et al, 2011;Quinn et al, 2012a;Quinn et al, 2012b;Venteris et al, 2014a;Venteris et al, 2012;Venteris et al, 2013;Venteris et al, 2014b;Wigmosta et al, 2011). Results from these studies have evaluated land, carbon dioxide, water, and nutrient requirements for biofuel production from microalgae and directly compared requirements to current available resources.…”

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confidence: 97%

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The potentials and challenges of algae based biofuels: A review of the techno-economic, life cycle, and resource assessment modeling

Quinn

Davis

2015

Bioresource Technology

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Microalgae biofuel production has been extensively evaluated through resource, economic and life cycle assessments. Resource assessments consistently identify land as non-limiting and highlight the need to consider siting based on combined geographical constraints of land and other critical resources such as water and carbon dioxide. Economic assessments report a selling cost of fuel that ranges between $1.64 and over $30 gal(-1) consistent with large variability reported in the life cycle literature, -75 to 534 gCO2-eq MJ(-1). Large drivers behind such variability stem from differences in productivity assumptions, pathway technologies, and system boundaries. Productivity represents foundational units in these assessments with current assumed yields in various assessments varying by a factor of 60. A review of the literature in these areas highlights the need for harmonized assessments such that direct comparisons of alternative processing technologies can be made on the metrics of resource requirements, economic feasibility, and environmental impact.

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confidence: 97%

“…Average water requirements reported byPate et al (2011),Wigmosta et al (2011), andBatan et al (2013), are 607, 1000, and 1944 l-water l-oil -1 , respectively. The large variability is due to differences in growth architectures, assumed productivities, and geographical location.…”

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confidence: 98%

The potentials and challenges of algae based biofuels: A review of the techno-economic, life cycle, and resource assessment modeling

Quinn

Davis

2015

Bioresource Technology

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396

228

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“…Compared to available fossil fuel, biofuels from microalgae is more water intensive [25] with an estimated 3726 kg of water, 0.33 kg of nitrogen, and 0.71 kg of phosphate required for the production of 1 kg of microalgae based biodiesel, if freshwater is used without recycling [26,27], and may be unsustainable for a water stressed country like South Africa. Thus, wastewater presents a solution to this dilemma as it contains nitrogen in the form of nitrates and nitrites, phosphates as well as trace metals necessary for algal growth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Pre-Chlorinated Wastewater Effluent for Microalgal Cultivation and Biodiesel Production

Odjadjare

Mutanda

Chen

et al. 2018

Water

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Microalgae are promising feedstock to produce biodiesel and other value added products. However, the water footprint for producing microalgal biodiesel is enormous and would put a strain on the water resources of water stressed countries like South Africa if freshwater is used without recycling. This study evaluates the utilization of pre-chlorinated wastewater as a cheap growth media for microalgal biomass propagation with the aim of producing biodiesel whilst simultaneously remediating the wastewater. Wastewater was collected from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Durban, inoculated with Neochloris aquatica and Asterarcys quadricellulare and the growth kinetics monitored for a period of 8 days. The physicochemical parameters; including chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) were determined before microalgal cultivation and after harvesting. Total lipids were quantified gravimetrically after extraction by hexane/isopropanol (3:2 v/v). Biodiesel was produced by transesterification and characterised by gas chromatography. The total carbohydrate was extracted by acid hydrolysis and quantified by spectrophotometric method based on aldehyde functional group derivatization. Asterarcys quadricellulare utilized the wastewater for growth and reduced the COD of the wastewater effluent from the Umbilo WWTP by 12.4%. Total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) were reduced by 48% and 50% respectively by Asterarcys quadricellulare cultivated in sterile wastewater while, Neochloris reduced the TP by 37% and TN by 29%. Although the highest biomass yield (460 mg dry weight) was obtained for Asterarcys, the highest amount of lipid (14.85 ± 1.63 mg L −1 ) and carbohydrate (14.84 ± 0.1 mg L −1 ) content were recorded in Neochloris aquatica. The dominant fatty acids in the microalgae were palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0) and oleic acid (C18:1). The biodiesel produced was determined to be of good quality with high oxidation stability and low viscosity, and conformed to the American society for testing and materials (ASTM) guidelines.

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“…Hence, biorefinery approach is expected to minimize the WF of biofuels. Batan et al (2013) estimated the WF of a closed photo-bioreactor based biofuel and assessed the WF on the basis of blue, green, and lifecycle WF. Blue WF comprised of the water directly used for cultivation and process needs for both consumptive and nonconsumptive use.…”

Section: Water Footprint (Wf)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Production of Biofuels from Microalgae Using a Biorefinary Approach

Singh

Guldhe

Singh

et al. 2015

Applied Environmental Biotechnology: Present Scenario and Future Trends

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Biorefinery has emerged as a new concept to derive more than one utility product from biomass. The products from biorefinery include one or more biofuels (biodiesel, bioethanol, biomethane, and biohydrogen) along with other energy sources (syngas and bio-oil), pharmaceutical products, and commercially important chemicals. Biorefineries, thus could simultaneously produce biofuels, bio-based chemicals, heat, and power. The biomass production and its utilization as biofuel has a higher water footprint (WF) than fossil derived fuel. The biorefinery approach has the potential to bring down the WF. Similarly, biorefinery approach has the potential to bring down the carbon footprint. The value added product derived from biorefinery basket includes pigments, nutraceuticals, and bioactive compounds. The use of industrial refusals for biomass production includes wastewater as nutrient medium and utilization of flue gases (CO 2 ) as the carbon source for culture of microalgae. These processes have the potential to reduce fresh WF and carbon footprint.

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Analysis of water footprint of a photobioreactor microalgae biofuel production system from blue, green and lifecycle perspectives

Cited by 52 publications

References 33 publications

The potentials and challenges of algae based biofuels: A review of the techno-economic, life cycle, and resource assessment modeling

The potentials and challenges of algae based biofuels: A review of the techno-economic, life cycle, and resource assessment modeling

Evaluation of Pre-Chlorinated Wastewater Effluent for Microalgal Cultivation and Biodiesel Production

Sustainable Production of Biofuels from Microalgae Using a Biorefinary Approach

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