Potential of biofuels from algae: Comparison with fossil fuels, ethanol and biodiesel in Europe and Brazil through life cycle assessment (LCA)

Carneiro, Maria Luisa N.M.; Pradelle, Florian; Braga, Sergio Leal; Gomes, Marcos S. P.; Martins, Ana Rosa Fonseca de Aguiar; Turkovics, Franck; Pradelle, Renata Nohra Chaar

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.01.152

Cited by 208 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Algae cultivated at large scale, however, are less performant than in lab with a lower PBCE (i.e. 0.5–1%; De Vree et al ) and the overall productivity is thus not sufficient to compensate for higher energetic and monetary costs for such large‐scale cultivation, thus limiting commercial competitiveness (Park and Lee , Carneiro et al ). Research efforts in investigating algae photosynthetic metabolism, assessing how it responds to large‐scale cultivation conditions and identifying strategies to improve PBCE are thus seminal to drive new applications of algae biomass to the market.…”

Section: Potential Of Microalgae As Source Of Biomassmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potential of quantitative models to improve microalgae photosynthetic efficiency

Perin

Bellan

Bernardi

et al. 2019

Physiologia Plantarum

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The massive increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere driven by human activities is causing huge negative consequences and new sustainable sources of energy, food and materials are highly needed. Algae are unicellular photosynthetic microorganisms that can provide a highly strategic contribution to this challenge as alternative source of biomass to complement crops cultivation. Algae industrial cultures are commonly limited by light availability, and biomass accumulation is strongly dependent on their photon‐to‐biomass conversion efficiency. Investigation of algae photosynthetic metabolism is thus strategic for the generation of more efficient strains with higher productivity. Algae are cultivated at industrial scale in conditions highly different from the natural niches they adapted to and strains development efforts must fully consider the seminal influence on productivity of regulatory mechanism of photosynthesis as well as of cultivation parameters like cells concentration, light distribution in the culture, mixing, nutrients and carbon dioxide availability. In this review we will focus in particular on how mathematical models can account for the complex influence of all environmental parameters and can be exploited for development of improved algae strains.

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Section: Potential Of Microalgae As Source Of Biomassmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potential of quantitative models to improve microalgae photosynthetic efficiency

Perin

Bellan

Bernardi

et al. 2019

Physiologia Plantarum

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“…Regarding the algae cultivation process, as the technology is still under development there are several pathways under investigation but currently there is no consensus on which technical option to adopt on a large scale . Algal species may be classified as either photoautotrophic (they use light as an energy source) or heterotrophic (they do not involve photosynthesis; they use organic substances as an energy source) or mixotrophic (combination of both), with the first being the most widely used, due to its economic and technical viability …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, two main systems for microalgae cultivation are under consideration, namely open‐air or raceway ponds (outdoor or indoor) and closed photobioreactors (PBRs). The first are shallow, mechanically agitated ponds, open to the atmosphere, and are considered by most researchers in the field as the most promising system . Raceway ponds have many advantages, including simplicity, lower construction, operating and production costs, as well as lower energy inputs than PBRs, and they can work with large amounts of CO 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first are shallow, mechanically agitated ponds, open to the atmosphere, and are considered by most researchers in the field as the most promising system . Raceway ponds have many advantages, including simplicity, lower construction, operating and production costs, as well as lower energy inputs than PBRs, and they can work with large amounts of CO 2 . However, raceway ponds are prone to contamination by external species, whereas outdoor systems are more exposed to weather fluctuations, which may cause evaporation when temperatures are high, or dilute the existing biomass during rain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life cycle assessment of algae‐to‐biodiesel shallow pond production systems in the Mediterranean: influence of species, pond type, by(co)‐product valorisation and electricity mix

Foteinis

Antoniadis-Gavriil

Tsoutsos

2018

Biofuels Bioprod Bioref

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The environmental sustainability of microalgae‐to‐biodiesel production systems was examined at open (outdoor) and closed (indoor, using artificial light and temperature control) raceway ponds in a Mediterranean climate (southern Greece). Spirulina platensis and Nannochloropsis sp. species were considered, with the latter having a slightly better environmental performance. In terms of energy efficiency, large cumulative energy demand (CED) values were observed, while the energy return‐on‐investment (EROI) ratio was well below 3 in all cases, indicating that, with current technology, algae‐to‐biodiesel systems have not reached sustainability yet. The impact on land use was minimal, as nonarable land was used. Shallow‐pond cultivation systems are energy intensive, especially the closed ones, and therefore were found to be associated with high environmental footprints. In all cases, the main environmental hotspot was, by and large, the electricity consumption from the Greek fossil‐fuel depended energy mix (90%). Pellet, a process co‐product, largely reduced the total environmental footprint by up to ~47%, which highlights the importance of co‐product valorization. Closed systems exhibited significantly higher environmental footprints compared to open ones, due to the large energy inputs for artificial solar irradiation and for indoor temperature control. In all the cases examined, the microalgae‐to‐biodiesel production system's environmental footprint was higher than that of fossil diesel (i.e. petrodiesel), indicating that ample room exists to improve their environmental performance. A sensitivity analysis revealed that the introduction of renewable energy solely to cover for electricity needs substantially improves environmental sustainability and could render microalgae‐to‐biodiesel systems an environmentally friendlier solution than petrodiesel. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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“…Major concerns associated with such high share of fossil fuels in the global energy basket is their negative impacts on human and environmental health through the widespread utilization of these fuels and the resultant greenhouse gases (GHGs), particulate, and many other respiratory emissions (Cohen and Pope, 1995;Caldeira and Wickett, 2003;Demirbas, 2007;Covert et al, 2016;Röllin, 2017). Therefore, most energy scenarios have been based on the development and expansion of nuclear and renewable energy carriers (Carneiro et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attributional and consequential environmental assessment of using waste cooking oil- and poultry fat-based biodiesel blends in urban buses: a real-world operation condition study

et al. 2017

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(R.A.) Please cite this article as: Rajaeifar M.A., Tabatabaei M., Abdi R., Latifi A.M., Saberi F., Askari M., Zenouzi A., Ghorbani M. Attributional and consequential environmental assessment of using waste cooking oil-and poultry fat-based biodiesel blends in urban buses: a real-world operation condition study. Biofuel Research Journal 15 (2017) Attributional and consequential environmental assessment of using waste cooking oil-and poultry fat-based biodiesel blends in urban buses: a real-world operation condition study Urban public transportation sector in general is heavily dependent on fossil -oriented fuels, e.g., diesel. Given the fact that a major proportion of urban pollution and the consequent threats towards public health are attributed to this sector, serious efforts at both technical and political levels have been being made to introduce less-polluting fueling regimes, e.g., partial replacement of diesel with biodiesel. In line with that, the present study was aimed at evaluating the emissions attributed to 5% blends of waste cooking oil (WCO) and poultry fat (PF) biodiesel fuels (i.e., B5-WCO and B5-PF fuel blends) when used in urban buses during idle operation mode. Moreover, the attributional and consequential environmental impacts of using these fuel blends were also investigated through a well to wheel life cycle assessment (LCA) by considering the real-world condition combustion data using ten urban buses. The findings of the ALCA revealed that the application of 1 L B5-WCO fuel blend could potentially reduce the environmental burdens in human health, ecosystem quality, and resources damage categories compared with using the B5-PF fuel blend. The situation was opposite for climate change damage category in which using 1 L B5-PF fuel blend had a lower impact on the environment. Overall, the environmental hotspots in the B5-WCO and B5-PF life cycles were identified as the combustion stage as well as the diesel production and transportation. From the consequential perspective, using 1 L B5-WCO fuel blend could potentially decrease the environmental burdens in human health, ecosystem quality, and resources damage categories. While, the situation was different for climate change damage category where using 1 L B5-PF fuel blend could have a lower impact on the environment. In conclusion, using B5-WCO fuel blend as an alternative for diesel could be an environmentally-friendly decision for the Iranian urban transportation sector at the policy level as long as the marginal suppliers of oil would be the same as the countries considered herein, i.e., Malaysia and Argentina.© 2017 BRTeam. All rights reserved. ABSTRACTJournal homepage: www.biofueljournal.com Rajaeifar al. / Biofuel Research Journal 15 (2017) 638-653 Please cite this article as: Rajaeifar M.A., Tabatabaei M., Abdi R., Latifi A.M., Saberi F., Askari M., Zenouzi A., Ghorbani M. Attributional and consequential environmental assessment of using waste cooking oil-and poultry fat-based biodiesel blends in urban buses: a real-world operati...

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Potential of biofuels from algae: Comparison with fossil fuels, ethanol and biodiesel in Europe and Brazil through life cycle assessment (LCA)

Cited by 208 publications

References 93 publications

The potential of quantitative models to improve microalgae photosynthetic efficiency

The potential of quantitative models to improve microalgae photosynthetic efficiency

Life cycle assessment of algae‐to‐biodiesel shallow pond production systems in the Mediterranean: influence of species, pond type, by(co)‐product valorisation and electricity mix

Attributional and consequential environmental assessment of using waste cooking oil- and poultry fat-based biodiesel blends in urban buses: a real-world operation condition study

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