Cultivation of Microalgae for Biofuel Production: Coupling with Sugarcane-Processing Factories
Open accessAbstract
Abstract Background Despite their potential as biofuel resources, large-scale production of biofuels from microalgae is still uncertain primarily due to a lack of feasibility of the process and that it proves to be capital and energy intensive. Therefore, an integration of microalgal cultivation with other processes for achieving an inexpensive nutrient and energy use is an important issue. In the present study, the potential of the flue gas and the wastewater of a sugar factory to support microalgae growth for biofuel and bio-fertilizer production is evaluated. Methods The study was carried out by following a case study approach; an Ethiopian sugarcane-processing factory, Metahara sugar and ethanol production factory, was selected for this purpose. Conceptual microalgal biofuel production was integrated with the real sugarcane-processing factory, and the process was evaluated with regard to the product outputs and energy requirements. Results The integrated process model shows that three products, biodiesel, upgraded biogas, and bio-fertilizer with production capacities of 188 tons/year, 1,974,882 m3/year and 42 tons/year, respectively, were produced. For the production of these products, the electricity and thermal energy demand of the integrated process amounted to 1822.13 and 3244.99 MWh/year, respectively. A sensitivity analysis shows that the oil content of the algae, the nitrogen content of the waste, the oil extraction efficiency, and the transesterification efficiency are the main factors which affect the biodiesel production capacity of the integrated process. Conclusions This case study approach investigated the potential of a future possible bio-refinery and environmental pollution reduction concept by integrating microalgae biomass production with sugarcane-processing factory wastes and by-products. It was found that the factory wastes and by-products have a significant potential for a viable biofuel production from microalgae.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Nutrient-rich wastewater from dairy and sugar processing contains essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which if untreated can disrupt water uses.
“Nutrient-rich wastewater from sources such as dairy and sugar processing contains essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which, if untreated, can disrupt normal water uses, including drinking, irrigation, and recreational activities [134-137].”
From A Review of Algae-Based Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (Algae-Based CCUS) (2024) · cites this paper as [137]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 64 · Cited by 59
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- M. Zappi, R. Hernandez, D. Sparks, J. Horne, and M. Brough, "A review of the engineering aspects of the biodiesel industry," MSU E-TECH Lab. Rep., vol. ET-03-003, no. August, 2003.
- L. Miroslav, Hutňan; Nina, Kolesárová; Igor, Bodík; Viera, Špalková; Michal, "Possibilities of anaerobic treatment of crude glycerol from biodiesel production," in 36th International Conference of Slovak Society of Chemical Engineering, 2009, pp. 156-1-156-13.
- G. T. F. L. B. H. D. Stensel, Waste Water Engineering: Treatment and Reuse, Fourth Edi. McGraw-Hill, Inc, 2003.
- Q. Richmond, A., & Hu, Ed., Handbook of microalgal culture, Second edt. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2013.
- Authors
- Zewdie, D. T., & Ali, A. Y.
- Affiliations
- Addis Ababa University (ET)
- Venue
- Energy Sustainability and Society
- Published
- 2020-08-05
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2192-0567 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3047552326
- Cited by
- 59
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 1.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Energy Sustainability and Society (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Addis Ababa University
- Debre Tabor University
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
- Keywords
- microalgae cultivation, microalgal biofuels, biodiesel, flue gas, sugar industry wastewater, biogas upgrading, biofertilizers, process integration, energy requirements
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
