Algae Farm Cost Model: Considerations for Photobioreactors
Open accessAbstract
Cost estimates and assumptions for a vertical hanging-bag type photobioreactor (PBR) system are reported here for a preliminary model developed to elucidate major cost drivers and opportunities for reducing the costs of algae cultivation. The design inputs and assumptions for this system are described in the report. A baseline case is presented, and alternative cases with differing areal algal productivities are used to compare to an open-pond case. The baseline algae production cost is estimated to be 1,137/short ton (st) algae, on an ash-free dry weight (AFDW) basis (2016 US$). Sensitivity analyses probe the areal productivity, support structure cost, and PBR bag replacement cost and life as significant impact factors affecting the system cost. A preliminary comparison of the PBR system and an open pond system is also developed to indicate the cost difference between these two systems.
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The major disadvantage of photobioreactors is high investment cost.
“In addition to these advantages, the major disadvantage of photobioreactors is high investment cost [34,35].”
From The Perspective of Large-Scale Production of Algae Biodiesel (2020) · cites this paper as [35]
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Cites
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The Perspective of Large-Scale Production of Algae Biodiesel
Bošnjaković, M., & Sinaga, N. (2020) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app10228181 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Singh, U., Naaz, F., Hawkins, T. R., Weinberg, E., Banerjee, S., Mroz, R., Ohri, N., Zhang, J., Lee, Y.-Y., Chen, F., et al. (2025) · Sustainable Energy & Fuels · doi:10.1039/d5se00329f · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), R., Zhu, Y., USDOE, Jones, S., & Anderson, D.
- Affiliations
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US)
- ORCID
- Zhu, Yunhua
- Published
- 2018-10-31
- OpenAlex
- W2905195968
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1
- Type
- report
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.osti.gov
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- USDOE
- DOE (AC05-76RL01830)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Innovations in Aquaponics and Hydroponics Systems
- Keywords
- algae cultivation, photobioreactors, cost model, cost drivers, areal productivity, open ponds, sensitivity analysis
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