Economic analysis of microalgae biodiesel production in a small-scale facility
Open accessAbstract
Industrial production and commercialization of biodiesel from microalgae have become a good alternative to conventional feedstock.Microalgae show high growth rate and carbon sequestration and can be easily cultivate in fresh and/or marine water, using non-arable soil.This study aims to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of biodiesel production from Phaeodactylum tricornutum, using an algae biomass production scaled-up scenario, considering local reality prices and available technologies.The model assumes 80,000 m 3 of microalgae cultivation, in a set of bubble column photobioreactors installed on 15.247 ha of land, reaching a total of 1,811 tons of microalgae biomass and 171,705 L of biodiesel per year.The production cost estimated for microalgae biomass is 2.01 e kg -1 and for biodiesel is 0.33 e L -1 .The ROI calculated for the project is 10% with a 10 years' payback time and an EBITDA of 588,139 e year -1 .Despite the project's viability in the medium term, the cost of producing microalgae biodiesel remains high when compared to fossil fuels.Thus, unless greater technological maturity is achieved to make the process more economical, it will not be viable in the short term.
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The developed system might not be viable for a large-scale use or mass production.
“the developed system might not be viable for a large-scale use or mass production.”
From A Microalgae Photobioreactor System for Indoor Air Remediation: Empirical Examination of the CO2 Absorption Performance of Spirulina maxima in a NaHCO3-Reduced Medium (2023) · cites this paper as [63]
The Abstract says the scaled-up biodiesel project will not be viable in the short term without greater technological maturity. But the Conclusions say the project is economically viable over a 10-year medium term when residual biomass and glycerol are valorized. The paper therefore supports a qualified viability concern, not a general claim that the system may be unsuitable for large-scale production. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn many instances, microalgae-based biodiesel can cost more to produce than fuel from conventional sources, depending on the scale of production, the processes used, and the biomass and lipid content produced.
“Unfortunately, higher operational and production costs are major hurdles for commercialization, and in many instances, microalgae-based biodiesel can cost more to produce than fuel from conventional sources (Branco-Vieira et al., 2020), depending on the scale of production, the processes used, and the biomass and lipid content produced (Desjardins et al., 2020).”
From Strategies to Produce Cost-Effective Third-Generation Biofuel From Microalgae (2021) · cites this paper as Branco-Vieira et al., 2020
Higher operational and production costs are major hurdles for commercialization of microalgae-based biodiesel.
“Unfortunately, higher operational and production costs are major hurdles for commercialization, and in many instances, microalgae-based biodiesel can cost more to produce than fuel from conventional sources (Branco-Vieira et al., 2020), depending on the scale of production, the processes used, and the biomass and lipid content produced (Desjardins et al., 2020).”
From Strategies to Produce Cost-Effective Third-Generation Biofuel From Microalgae (2021) · cites this paper as Branco-Vieira et al., 2020
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- Authors
- Branco-Vieira, M., Mata, T. M., Martins, A. A., Freitas, M. A. V., & Caetano, N. S.
- Affiliations
- Universidade do Porto (PT)
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- Venue
- Energy Reports
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-12
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 325-332
- ISSN
- 2352-4847 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3114179189
- Cited by
- 150
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 16
- FWCI
- 3.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Energy Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Universidad de Concepción
- European Commission
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003)
- Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biodiesel Production and Applications
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
- Keywords
- microalgae biodiesel, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, economic feasibility, production cost analysis, bubble column photobioreactor, algae cultivation, return on investment, payback period, non-arable land, carbon sequestration
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