Techno-Economic Analysis of Biodiesel Production from Microalgae: A Review
Open accessAbstract
The development of the microalgae-based biodiesel technology has become a hot research topic in the bioenergy field in recent years. Presently, the technical possibility of the conversion of microalgae to biodiesel has been confirmed at the laboratory scale. The fundamental issues impeding the industrialization of microalgae-based biodiesel include the high cost of production and the lack of research on the scaling-up technology. In this paper, the technical challenges and economic aspects of biodiesel production from microalgae were analyzed. It was found that the production cost of microalgae-based biodiesel mainly come from three processes: microalgae cultivation, harvest, and lipid extraction, among which microalgae cultivation represented the highest cost. Finally, the prospect of the industrialization of the microalgae-based biodiesel was proposed. Citation: Junying Chen, Qingliang Li, Chun Chang, Jing Bai, Liping Liu, Shuqi Fang ,Hongliang Li, Techno-Economic Analysis of Biodiesel Production from Microalgae: A Review, Trends in Renewable Energy, 2017, 3(2): 141-52. DOI: 10.17737/tre.2017.3.2.0035
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Open raceway ponds represent a more cost-effective microalgae cultivation method than photobioreactors.
“Moreover, with a lower annual operating cost of $37 -$42.65 million and lipid yielding a cost of $13/gal, ORPs represent a more cost-effective microalgae cultivation method than PBRs, which have an annual operating cost of $55 -$62.80 million and lipid yielding a cost of $33/gal (Chen, 2017).”
From Strategies to Produce Cost-Effective Third-Generation Biofuel From Microalgae (2021) · cites this paper as Chen, 2017
Section 2.1 identifies raceway ponds as a type of open pond, and Table 2 describes open ponds as having lower construction and operating costs than photobioreactors. Table 3 lists annual net operating costs of $37 million and $55 million, respectively, supporting the comparison. Our copy does not support the cited sentence’s upper range values ($42.65 million and $62.80 million) or its $13/gal and $33/gal lipid-cost figures. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOpen raceway ponds have an annual operating cost of $37-$42.65 million and a lipid yielding cost of $13/gal.
“Moreover, with a lower annual operating cost of $37 -$42.65 million and lipid yielding a cost of $13/gal, ORPs represent a more cost-effective microalgae cultivation method than PBRs, which have an annual operating cost of $55 -$62.80 million and lipid yielding a cost of $33/gal (Chen, 2017).”
From Strategies to Produce Cost-Effective Third-Generation Biofuel From Microalgae (2021) · cites this paper as Chen, 2017
Table 3 (listed under §4, page unavailable) reports net annual operating costs of $37 million for open ponds and $55 million for photobioreactors, supporting the lower-cost comparison. Our copy does not give the claimed upper ends of the ranges ($42.65 million and $62.80 million) or the $13/gal and $33/gal lipid costs. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPhotobioreactors have an annual operating cost of $55-$62.80 million and a lipid yielding cost of $33/gal.
“Moreover, with a lower annual operating cost of $37 -$42.65 million and lipid yielding a cost of $13/gal, ORPs represent a more cost-effective microalgae cultivation method than PBRs, which have an annual operating cost of $55 -$62.80 million and lipid yielding a cost of $33/gal (Chen, 2017).”
From Strategies to Produce Cost-Effective Third-Generation Biofuel From Microalgae (2021) · cites this paper as Chen, 2017
Table 3 (reproduced under Conclusions and Prospects; page unavailable) lists a photobioreactor net operating cost of $55 million per year. Our copy does not give the claimed $62.80 million upper bound or a $33-per-gallon lipid cost (searched: “$62.80” and “$33/gal”). (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredConventional harvesting methods flocculation, filtration, and centrifugation cost $2,000, $9,884, and $12,500 per square hectometre, respectively.
“Conventional harvesting methods, such as fl occulation, fi ltration, and centrifugation cost $2,000, $9,884, and $12,500 per square hectometre, respectively (Chen, 2017).”
From Strategies to Produce Cost-Effective Third-Generation Biofuel From Microalgae (2021) · cites this paper as Chen, 2017
The significant barrier to the market of algae biodiesel is the high cost of algae growing and harvesting.
“The significant barrier to the market of algae biodiesel is the high cost of algae growing and harvesting [74,75].”
From The Perspective of Large-Scale Production of Algae Biodiesel (2020) · cites this paper as [74]
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References 23 · Cited by 27
Research works printed but not linked: 11
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- Authors
- Zhengzhou University, & Chen, J.
- Affiliations
- Zhengzhou University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Junying
- ORCID
- Chen, Junying
- Venue
- Trends in Renewable Energy
- Publisher
- Future Energy Service and Publishing
- Published
- 2017
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 141-152
- ISSN
- 2376-2136 (ISSN-L)
- 2376-2144
- OpenAlex
- W2757700981
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Trends in Renewable Energy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Trends in Renewable Energy (Trends in Renewable Energy) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (162300410250)
- 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 production, techno-economic analysis, production costs, microalgae cultivation, microalgae harvesting, lipid extraction, industrialization, scale-up
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