Microalgal biomass production pathways: evaluation of life cycle environmental impacts

Biotechnology for Biofuels

George G Zaimes¹  Vikas Khanna¹ 

[1] Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, 15261, Pennsylvania

关键词: Water demands;    GHG emissions;    Open raceway ponds;    Chlorella vulgaris;    Life cycle analysis;    Biofuel;    Bioenergy;    Biomass;    Microalgae;   

Others  :  798014
DOI  :  10.1186/1754-6834-6-88

 received in 2013-03-11, accepted in 2013-06-13,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Microalgae are touted as an attractive alternative to traditional forms of biomass for biofuel production, due to high productivity, ability to be cultivated on marginal lands, and potential to utilize carbon dioxide (CO₂) from industrial flue gas. This work examines the fossil energy return on investment (EROI_fossil), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and direct Water Demands (WD) of producing dried algal biomass through the cultivation of microalgae in Open Raceway Ponds (ORP) for 21 geographic locations in the contiguous United States (U.S.). For each location, comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) is performed for multiple microalgal biomass production pathways, consisting of a combination of cultivation and harvesting options.

Results

Results indicate that the EROI_fossil for microalgae biomass vary from 0.38 to 1.08 with life cycle GHG emissions of −46.2 to 48.9 (g CO₂ eq/MJ-biomass) and direct WDs of 20.8 to 38.8 (Liters/MJ-biomass) over the range of scenarios analyzed. Further anaylsis reveals that the EROI_fossil for production pathways is relatively location invariant, and that algae’s life cycle energy balance and GHG impacts are highly dependent on cultivation and harvesting parameters. Contrarily, algae’s direct water demands were found to be highly sensitive to geographic location, and thus may be a constraining factor in sustainable algal-derived biofuel production. Additionally, scenarios with promising EROI_fossil and GHG emissions profiles are plagued with high technological uncertainty.

Conclusions

Given the high variability in microalgae’s energy and environmental performance, careful evaluation of the algae-to-fuel supply chain is necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of emerging algal biofuel systems. Alternative production scenarios and technologies may have the potential to reduce the critical demands of biomass production, and should be considered to make algae a viable and more efficient biofuel alternative.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Zaimes and Khanna; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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