Cited by 231Algal biology and biofuel productionEnvironmental Impact and SustainabilityBioenergy crop production and management

Life cycle evaluation of microalgae biofuels production: Effect of cultivation system on energy, carbon emission and cost balance analysis

Dasan, Yaleeni Kanna, Lam, Man Kee, Yusup, Suzana, Lim, Jun Wei, Lee, Keat Teong·2019·Science of The Total Environment

Abstract

The rapid depletion of fossil fuels and ever-increasing environmental pollution have forced humankind to look for a renewable energy source. Microalgae, a renewable biomass source, has been proposed as a promising feedstock to generate biofuels due to their fast growth rate with high lipid content. However, literatures have indicated that sustainable production of microalgae biofuels are only viable with a highly optimized production system. In the present study, a cradle-to-gate approach was used to provide expedient insights on the effect of different cultivation systems and biomass productivity toward life cycle energy (LCEA), carbon balance (LCCO 2) and economic (LCC) of microalgae biodiesel production pathways. In addition, a co-production of bioethanol from microalgae residue was proposed in order to improve the economic sustainability of the overall system. The results attained in the present work indicated that traditional microalgae biofuels processing pathways resulted to several shortcomings, such as dehydration and lipid extraction of microalgae biomass required high energy input and contributed nearly 21 to 30% and 39 to 57% of the total energy requirement, respectively. Besides, the microalgae biofuels production system also required a high capital investment, which accounted for 47 to 86% of total production costs that subsequently resulted to poor techno-economic performances. Moreover, current analysis of environmental aspects of microalgae biorefinery had revealed negative CO 2 balance in producing microalgae biofuels.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.181

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166 of 166 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Some reviewed LCA studies computed net energy ratio to evaluate the usability of biofuels as energy sources.

    “Some studies computed net energy ratio to evaluate the usability of biofuels as energy sources (Al-Mawali et al. 2021;Al-Muhtaseb et al. 2021;Dasan et al. 2019;Im-Orb and Arpornwichanop 2020;Reaño 2020;Saranya and Ramachandra 2020)”

    From Conversion of biomass to biofuels and life cycle assessment: a review (2021) · cites this paper as Dasan et al. 2019

  • The current systems for algae biodiesel production are not energy sustainable, that is, they result in a negative energy balance.

    “Thus, the current systems for algae biodiesel production are not energy sustainable, that is, they result in a negative energy balance [70].”

    From The Perspective of Large-Scale Production of Algae Biodiesel (2020) · cites this paper as [70]

  • Reliable and inexpensive water supply is one of critical elements of commercial production of algal biomass at lower prices.

    “Reliable and inexpensive water supply is one of the critical elements of the commercial production of algal biomass at lower prices [70].”

    From The Perspective of Large-Scale Production of Algae Biodiesel (2020) · cites this paper as [70]

  • Pyrolysis disadvantages include high heat input needed for chemical reactions for syngas formation.

    “However, the disadvantages of these methods include the high heat input needed to carry out the chemical reactions for the formation of syngas. [27, 138].”
  • One liter of ethanol is comparable to approximately 0.65 L of gasoline.

    “One liter of ethanol is comparable to approximately 0.65 L of gasoline.”

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Authors
Dasan, Y. K., Lam, M. K., Yusup, S., Lim, J. W., & Lee, K. T.
Affiliations
  • Universiti Teknologi Petronas (MY)
  • Universiti Sains Malaysia (MY)
Corresponding author
Lam, Man Kee
Venue
Science of The Total Environment
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-10
Volume
688
Pages
112-128
ISSN
0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2951953295
Cited by
231
References
166
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 1
FWCI
6.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Universiti Teknologi Petronas (0153AA-H46)
  • Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (203/PJKIMIA/6071362)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
Keywords
microalgal biofuels, biodiesel, life cycle energy analysis, carbon balance, techno-economic analysis, microalgae biorefinery, capital investment, CO2 emissions
MeSH terms
Carbon, Costs and Cost Analysis, Fossil Fuels, Life Cycle Stages, Lipids, Biomass, Biofuels, Microalgae

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