Life cycle assessment of industrial scale production of spirulina tablets

Ye, Chensong; Mu, Dongyan; Horowitz, Naomi; Xue, Zhonglin; Chen, Jie; Xue, Mingxiong; Zhou, Yu; Klutts, Megan; Zhou, Wenguang

doi:10.1016/j.algal.2018.07.013

Cited by 70 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…For all systems, the second stage or red phase is the main hotspot for all the impact categories, with a contribution of 80-85%. The cultivation stage usually gives the highest environmental impact [10,52]. Fig.…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative life cycle assessment of astaxanthin production with Haematococcus pluvialis in different photobioreactor technologies

Onorato

Rösch

2020

Algal Research

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Haematococcus pluvialis is one of the most abundant sources of natural astaxanthin when compared with other microorganisms, and has attracted the interest of the market thanks to its health benefits. We investigated the environmental performance of the cultivation of H. pluvialis and the astaxanthin production processes through a comprehensive Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). This study compares the potential environmental impact of three photobioreactors (PBR) available on the market: the flat panel airlift , the green wall panel , and the unilayer horizontal tubular PBR . These systems have different technical settings: the flat panel airlift has a double-sided light emitting diode (LED) illumination system and is placed inside a building; the green wall panel is located outside and equipped with one-side LED lighting; the unilayer horizontal tubular is placed outside without any artificial lighting. Two different functional units were considered: one kg of H. pluvialis (80% dw) and 1 kg of astaxanthin. Where 1 kg of astaxanthin was selected as functional unit, as the content of astaxanthin in the biomass is low, the system expansion method was applied.The LCA results, based on original data from pilot-scale production, indicate that the system design, and the energy mix used have a significant environmental impact, due to differences in algae productivities and energy demand. For indoor systems, even with light-emitting diodes (LED), the energy demand for lighting is the main contributor to climate change. This contribution decreases significantly if the share of renewable energy increases. In the case of the green wall panel another main climate change contributor is the material used for the diode production, including tin and molybdenum. Although the astaxanthin yield is higher in the flat panel airlift and green wall panel, electricity production systems still const tute an environmental burden. For this reason, the system with the lowest environmental impact is the unilayer horizontal tubular, i.e. the photobioreactor where no artificial light is used.

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Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative life cycle assessment of astaxanthin production with Haematococcus pluvialis in different photobioreactor technologies

Onorato

Rösch

2020

Algal Research

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“…For example, on the Spaceship Shenzhou‐8 launched by China, the performance of a Chlorella ‐based BLSS supplying oxygen to animals was evaluated . Additionally, life cycle analysis (LCA) of microalgae food production and microalgae‐based wastewater remediation were conducted, providing a theoretical basis for the construction of a space station with microalgae‐based BLSS on the Moon or Mars.…”

Section: Development Paths Of Microalgae‐based Blssmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microalgae biotechnology as an attempt for bioregenerative life support systems: problems and prospects

Yang

Liu

et al. 2019

J of Chemical Tech & Biotech

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Bioregenerative life support system (BLSS) plays a key role in the long‐duration manned space mission. Microalgae‐based BLSS was proposed decades ago but it had a variety of technical problems hindering its application in space mission. However, in recent years, a lot of effort has been devoted to this field and great progresses have been achieved in the research of microalgae‐based BLSS. Therefore, the main aim of this work is to summarize the previous progress and find the challenges faced by microalgae‐based BLSS technology. In this regard, this works introduces the concept of microalgae‐based BLSS and presents its development paths in the past decades. Additionally, technology updates in the aspects of microalgae‐based oxygen generation, value‐added biomass production as food alternative, and wastes treatment by microalgae are summarized. Challenges faced by microalgae‐based BLSS and potential solutions are discussed. This work provides a deep understanding of microalgae‐based BLSS and that it would be beneficial for promoting implementation of this novel technology in manned space missions. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

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“…US$720 million per year. Current production amounts to a total of 10 million tons of dry biomass of Arthrospira (spirulina), Chlorella , Haematococcus , Euglena , and Dunaliella (of which 80% is located in China); however, the production cost of microalgae biomass is still too high for widespread commercial applications [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Processing Methodologies of Wet Microalga Biomass Toward Oil Separation: An Overview

2021

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One of the main goals of Mankind is to ensure food system sustainability—including management of land, soil, water, and biodiversity. Microalgae accordingly appear as an innovative and scalable alternative source in view of the richness of their chemical profiles. In what concerns lipids in particular, microalgae can synthesize and accumulate significant amounts of fatty acids, a great fraction of which are polyunsaturated; this makes them excellent candidates within the framework of production and exploitation of lipids by various industrial and health sectors, either as bulk products or fine chemicals. Conventional lipid extraction methodologies require previous dehydration of microalgal biomass, which hampers economic feasibility due to the high energy demands thereof. Therefore, extraction of lipids directly from wet biomass would be a plus in this endeavor. Supporting processes and methodologies are still limited, and most approaches are empirical in nature—so a deeper mechanistic elucidation is a must, in order to facilitate rational optimization of the extraction processes. Besides circumventing the current high energy demands by dehydration, an ideal extraction method should be selective, sustainable, efficient, harmless, and feasible for upscale to industrial level. This review presents and discusses several pretreatments incurred in lipid extraction from wet microalga biomass, namely recent developments and integrated processes. Unfortunately, most such developments have been proven at bench-scale only—so demonstration in large facilities is still needed to confirm whether they can turn into competitive alternatives.

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Life cycle assessment of industrial scale production of spirulina tablets

Cited by 70 publications

References 23 publications

Comparative life cycle assessment of astaxanthin production with Haematococcus pluvialis in different photobioreactor technologies

Comparative life cycle assessment of astaxanthin production with Haematococcus pluvialis in different photobioreactor technologies

Microalgae biotechnology as an attempt for bioregenerative life support systems: problems and prospects

Processing Methodologies of Wet Microalga Biomass Toward Oil Separation: An Overview

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