IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v171y2019icp1033-1045.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life-cycle assessment of biofuel production from microalgae via various bioenergy conversion systems

Author

Listed:
  • Sun, Chi-He
  • Fu, Qian
  • Liao, Qiang
  • Xia, Ao
  • Huang, Yun
  • Zhu, Xun
  • Reungsang, Alissara
  • Chang, Hai-Xing

Abstract

Microalgae is an alternative feedstock for biofuel production and has been considered to be a potential biotechnology. However, the systems for industrial biofuel production from microalgae are still costly and unsuitable. In addition, the complex and changeable processes contained in different bioenergy conversion systems make it difficult to reasonably compare these systems. This study aim to obtain an optimal microalgae-based industrial system using life-cycle assessment, and to unify the uncertainties caused by the discrepancies of each process. Two types of bioenergy conversion systems were modelled and compared: (1) transesterification, hydrothermal liquefaction, and pyrolysis for renewable diesel production and (2) anaerobic digestion without/with hydrothermal pretreatment for biogas production. The life-cycle impacts of these systems were quantified in terms of net energy ratios (NERs) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The results show that anaerobic digestion system with hydrothermal pretreatment is more industrially feasible and eco-friendly at the industrial scale due to its low NER (0.71) and GHG emissions [−60.84 g CO2−eq (MJ biogas)−1].

Suggested Citation

  • Sun, Chi-He & Fu, Qian & Liao, Qiang & Xia, Ao & Huang, Yun & Zhu, Xun & Reungsang, Alissara & Chang, Hai-Xing, 2019. "Life-cycle assessment of biofuel production from microalgae via various bioenergy conversion systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 1033-1045.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:171:y:2019:i:c:p:1033-1045
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.01.074
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544219300763
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2019.01.074?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Songmei & Zhu, Johnny & Dai, Lingmei & Zhao, Xuebing & Liu, Dehua & Du, Wei, 2016. "A novel process on lipid extraction from microalgae for biodiesel production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P1), pages 963-968.
    2. Jiang, Liling & Luo, Shengjun & Fan, Xiaolei & Yang, Zhiman & Guo, Rongbo, 2011. "Biomass and lipid production of marine microalgae using municipal wastewater and high concentration of CO2," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(10), pages 3336-3341.
    3. Mark Huntley & Donald Redalje, 2007. "CO 2 Mitigation and Renewable Oil from Photosynthetic Microbes: A New Appraisal," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 573-608, May.
    4. Fortier, Marie-Odile P. & Roberts, Griffin W. & Stagg-Williams, Susan M. & Sturm, Belinda S.M., 2014. "Life cycle assessment of bio-jet fuel from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 73-82.
    5. Jin, Yiying & Chen, Ting & Chen, Xin & Yu, Zhixin, 2015. "Life-cycle assessment of energy consumption and environmental impact of an integrated food waste-based biogas plant," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 227-236.
    6. Hognon, Céline & Delrue, Florian & Boissonnet, Guillaume, 2015. "Energetic and economic evaluation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii hydrothermal liquefaction and pyrolysis through thermochemical models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 31-40.
    7. Collet, Pierre & Hélias, Arnaud & Lardon, Laurent & Steyer, Jean-Philippe & Bernard, Olivier, 2015. "Recommendations for Life Cycle Assessment of algal fuels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 1089-1102.
    8. Soratana, Kullapa & Khanna, Vikas & Landis, Amy E., 2013. "Re-envisioning the renewable fuel standard to minimize unintended consequences: A comparison of microalgal diesel with other biodiesels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 194-204.
    9. Bennion, Edward P. & Ginosar, Daniel M. & Moses, John & Agblevor, Foster & Quinn, Jason C., 2015. "Lifecycle assessment of microalgae to biofuel: Comparison of thermochemical processing pathways," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 1062-1071.
    10. Edward Frank & Amgad Elgowainy & Jeongwoo Han & Zhichao Wang, 2013. "Life cycle comparison of hydrothermal liquefaction and lipid extraction pathways to renewable diesel from algae," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 137-158, January.
    11. Hwang, Jae-Hoon & Kabra, Akhil N. & Kim, Jung Rae & Jeon, Byong-Hun, 2014. "Photoheterotrophic microalgal hydrogen production using acetate- and butyrate-rich wastewater effluent," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 887-894.
    12. Kadam, K.L, 2002. "Environmental implications of power generation via coal-microalgae cofiring," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 27(10), pages 905-922.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elena R. Magaril & Leonid D. Gitelman & Anzhelika P. Karaeva & Andrey V. Kiselev & Mikhail V. Kozhevnikov, 2022. "Methodological Approach to the Environmental and Economic Assessment of Biogas Energy Projects," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 21(2), pages 217-256.
    2. Song, Wenlu & He, Yu & Huang, Rui & Li, Jianfeng & Yu, Yujie & Xia, Peng, 2023. "Life cycle assessment of deep-eutectic-solvent-assisted hydrothermal disintegration of microalgae for biodiesel and biogas co-production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    3. Xia, Ao & Sun, Chihe & Fu, Qian & Liao, Qiang & Huang, Yun & Zhu, Xun & Li, Qing, 2020. "Biofuel production from wet microalgae biomass: Comparison of physicochemical properties and extraction performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    4. Canabarro, N.I. & Silva-Ortiz, P. & Nogueira, L.A.H. & Cantarella, H. & Maciel-Filho, R. & Souza, G.M., 2023. "Sustainability assessment of ethanol and biodiesel production in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Guatemala," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Tsapekos, Panagiotis & Khoshnevisan, Benyamin & Alvarado-Morales, Merlin & Zhu, Xinyu & Pan, Junting & Tian, Hailin & Angelidaki, Irini, 2021. "Upcycling the anaerobic digestion streams in a bioeconomy approach: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Li, Junjie & Zhang, Yueling & Yang, Yanli & Zhang, Xiaomei & Wang, Nana & Zheng, Yonghong & Tian, Yajun & Xie, Kechang, 2022. "Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of ethanol production via coal and its competitors: A comparative study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    7. Zhang, Yi & Soldatov, Sergey & Papachristou, Ioannis & Nazarova, Natalja & Link, Guido & Frey, Wolfgang & Silve, Aude, 2022. "Pulsed microwave pretreatment of fresh microalgae for enhanced lipid extraction," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    8. Yang, Lan & Wang, Xue-Chao & Dai, Min & Chen, Bin & Qiao, Yuanbo & Deng, Huijing & Zhang, Dingfan & Zhang, Yizhe & Villas Bôas de Almeida, Cecília Maria & Chiu, Anthony S.F. & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & W, 2021. "Shifting from fossil-based economy to bio-based economy: Status quo, challenges, and prospects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    9. Braud, L. & McDonnell, K. & Murphy, F., 2023. "Environmental life cycle assessment of algae systems: Critical review of modelling approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    10. Sun, Chihe & Xia, Ao & Liao, Qiang & Fu, Qian & Huang, Yun & Zhu, Xun, 2019. "Life-cycle assessment of biohythane production via two-stage anaerobic fermentation from microalgae and food waste," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 395-410.
    11. Marangon, B.B. & Castro, J.S. & Assemany, P.P. & Couto, E.A. & Calijuri, M.L., 2022. "Environmental performance of microalgae hydrothermal liquefaction: Life cycle assessment and improvement insights for a sustainable renewable diesel," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    12. Xiao, Chao & Fu, Qian & Liao, Qiang & Huang, Yun & Xia, Ao & Chen, Hao & Zhu, Xun, 2020. "Life cycle and economic assessments of biogas production from microalgae biomass with hydrothermal pretreatment via anaerobic digestion," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 70-78.
    13. Moon, Myounghoon & Park, Won-Kun & Lee, Soo Youn & Hwang, Kyung-Ran & Lee, Sangmin & Kim, Min-Sik & Kim, Bolam & Oh, You-Kwan & Lee, Jin-Suk, 2022. "Utilization of whole microalgal biomass for advanced biofuel and biorefinery applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    14. Llamas, Mercedes & Magdalena, Jose Antonio & Tomás-Pejó, Elia & González-Fernández, Cristina, 2020. "Microalgae-based anaerobic fermentation as a promising technology for producing biogas and microbial oils," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    15. Salameh, Tareq & Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Al-Shannag, Mohammad & Saidan, Motasem & Melhem, Khalid Bani & Alkasrawi, Malek, 2020. "Energy saving in the process of bioethanol production from renewable paper mill sludge," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    16. Yue, Pengtao & Kang, Zhongyin & Fu, Qian & Li, Jun & Zhang, Liang & Zhu, Xun & Liao, Qiang, 2021. "Life cycle and economic analysis of chemicals production via electrolytic (bi)carbonate and gaseous CO2 conversion," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomassen, Gwenny & Van Dael, Miet & Lemmens, Bert & Van Passel, Steven, 2017. "A review of the sustainability of algal-based biorefineries: Towards an integrated assessment framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 876-887.
    2. Sun, Chihe & Xia, Ao & Liao, Qiang & Fu, Qian & Huang, Yun & Zhu, Xun, 2019. "Life-cycle assessment of biohythane production via two-stage anaerobic fermentation from microalgae and food waste," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 395-410.
    3. Chen, Guanyi & Zhao, Liu & Qi, Yun, 2015. "Enhancing the productivity of microalgae cultivated in wastewater toward biofuel production: A critical review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 282-291.
    4. Wu, Wei & Wang, Po-Han & Lee, Duu-Jong & Chang, Jo-Shu, 2017. "Global optimization of microalgae-to-biodiesel chains with integrated cogasification combined cycle systems based on greenhouse gas emissions reductions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 63-82.
    5. Marangon, B.B. & Castro, J.S. & Assemany, P.P. & Couto, E.A. & Calijuri, M.L., 2022. "Environmental performance of microalgae hydrothermal liquefaction: Life cycle assessment and improvement insights for a sustainable renewable diesel," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    6. Pearce, Matthew & Shemfe, Mobolaji & Sansom, Christopher, 2016. "Techno-economic analysis of solar integrated hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 19-26.
    7. Azizi, Kolsoom & Keshavarz Moraveji, Mostafa & Abedini Najafabadi, Hamed, 2018. "A review on bio-fuel production from microalgal biomass by using pyrolysis method," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3046-3059.
    8. Felix, Charles & Ubando, Aristotle & Madrazo, Cynthia & Gue, Ivan Henderson & Sutanto, Sylviana & Tran-Nguyen, Phuong Lan & Go, Alchris Woo & Ju, Yi-Hsu & Culaba, Alvin & Chang, Jo-Shu & Chen, Wei-Hsi, 2019. "Non-catalytic in-situ (trans) esterification of lipids in wet microalgae Chlorella vulgaris under subcritical conditions for the synthesis of fatty acid methyl esters," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C), pages 526-537.
    9. Kargbo, Hannah & Harris, Jonathan Stuart & Phan, Anh N., 2021. "“Drop-in” fuel production from biomass: Critical review on techno-economic feasibility and sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    10. Cremonez, Paulo André & Feroldi, Michael & de Araújo, Amanda Viana & Negreiros Borges, Maykon & Weiser Meier, Thompson & Feiden, Armin & Gustavo Teleken, Joel, 2015. "Biofuels in Brazilian aviation: Current scenario and prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1063-1072.
    11. Bennion, Edward P. & Ginosar, Daniel M. & Moses, John & Agblevor, Foster & Quinn, Jason C., 2015. "Lifecycle assessment of microalgae to biofuel: Comparison of thermochemical processing pathways," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 1062-1071.
    12. Collet, Pierre & Hélias, Arnaud & Lardon, Laurent & Steyer, Jean-Philippe & Bernard, Olivier, 2015. "Recommendations for Life Cycle Assessment of algal fuels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 1089-1102.
    13. Huang, Yi & Yi, Qun & Wei, Guo-qiang & Kang, Jing-xian & Li, Wen-ying & Feng, Jie & Xie, Ke-chang, 2018. "Energy use, greenhouse gases emission and cost effectiveness of an integrated high– and low–temperature Fisher–Tropsch synthesis plant from a lifecycle viewpoint," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1009-1019.
    14. Pérez-López, Paula & de Vree, Jeroen H. & Feijoo, Gumersindo & Bosma, Rouke & Barbosa, Maria J. & Moreira, María Teresa & Wijffels, René H. & van Boxtel, Anton J.B. & Kleinegris, Dorinde M.M., 2017. "Comparative life cycle assessment of real pilot reactors for microalgae cultivation in different seasons," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 1151-1164.
    15. Robert S. Weber & Johnathan E. Holladay & Cynthia Jenks & Ellen A. Panisko & Lesley J. Snowden‐Swan & Magdalena Ramirez‐Corredores & Brian Baynes & Largus T. Angenent & Dane Boysen, 2018. "Modularized production of fuels and other value‐added products from distributed, wasted, or stranded feedstocks," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(6), November.
    16. Zhou, Wenguang & Chen, Paul & Min, Min & Ma, Xiaochen & Wang, Jinghan & Griffith, Richard & Hussain, Fida & Peng, Pu & Xie, Qinglong & Li, Yun & Shi, Jian & Meng, Jianzong & Ruan, Roger, 2014. "Environment-enhancing algal biofuel production using wastewaters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 256-269.
    17. Chamkalani, A. & Zendehboudi, S. & Rezaei, N. & Hawboldt, K., 2020. "A critical review on life cycle analysis of algae biodiesel: current challenges and future prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    18. Tu, Qingshi & Eckelman, Matthew & Zimmerman, Julie Beth, 2018. "Harmonized algal biofuel life cycle assessment studies enable direct process train comparison," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 494-509.
    19. Cruce, Jesse R. & Quinn, Jason C., 2019. "Economic viability of multiple algal biorefining pathways and the impact of public policies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 735-746.
    20. Brennan, Liam & Owende, Philip, 2010. "Biofuels from microalgae--A review of technologies for production, processing, and extractions of biofuels and co-products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 557-577, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:171:y:2019:i:c:p:1033-1045. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.