From Capturing Carbon to Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy Through

Microalgal Biorefinery
Bhullar Garcha Ruby, Anjana Bhatia

Description:
Since mitigating carbon dioxide emissions from anthropogenic sources as well move from
linear economy to sustainable circular bio-economy, it is essential to use a potentially viable
biorefinery strategy towards carbon-capture using the carbon-neutral energy resources. The
bio-fixation process of microalgae offers a sustainable alternative to capture and use excess
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere generated through various Industrial and thermal power
sources. Microalgae have received extensive attention due to their tremendous potential of
carbon dioxide tolerance, ability to recover finite nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus,
cascading use of microalgal biomass as a valuable organic carbon-based sustainable
feedstock in a biorefinery. With the increased attention and emphasis of circular economy in
the past half-decade, the economic, environmental, and social aspects of the industrial sector,
biorefinery act as a strategic mechanism for the realization of circular bio-economy. The
circular bio-economy is the extension of circular economy ideology to achieve economic and
environmental sustainability through maximizing recirculation of resource flow and
minimizing waste generation and end-of-life disposal. Microalgal-based biorefinery enhances
the circular bio-economy towards the establishment of integrated sustainable approaches of
an integrated biorefinery system to increase the environmental sustainability of third-
generation (microalgae, seaweed, cyanobacteria) biofuel production and economic viability
by reducing the production costs and adding value to their co-products.
Content:
This study illustrates the journey of evolving models that tries to bridge the gap and stand as
pillars towards circular bio-economy from superstructure optimization model (2017) which
focused on total cost NPV minimization; a mixed-integer linear programming model aiming
to minimize the overall cost of supply chain network (2018), as both, focused on single
objective involving economic impact which points to the possibility that their solution may
not be environmentally sustainable; thereby, a multi-objective goal programming
optimization model (2019) leads on profit and carbon adsorption maximization though the
study did not include the recovery and recirculation of input materials into the supply chain.
The study also highlights the application of multiple objective optimization models to the
solution of optimization problems in which more than one objective function be improved.
This is further discussed by case study and scenario analysis.
Conclusion:
The rapid development of the circular bio-economy emphasized the enhancement and
recirculation of renewable biological resources by maximizing the yield to economic and
environmental benefits. In order, to successfully implement the biorefinery model the life
cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) are essential to evaluate the
environmental and economic impact of microalgae biofuel production. A multi-objective
optimization is a necessary tool for the design, operation, control, and optimization of
industrial processes. The review explores the multi-objective multi-period optimization
model, its application for Life-cycle assessment, to maximize NPV and minimize GHG
emissions thus capturing investment planning, operational decisions, and expansion
opportunities for an algal integrated biorefinery. Future work may look into bridging the gap
between the current state and successful circular bio-economy related to policy, scaling-up,
collaborations, establishing efficient business models, finding new technological routes for
bioresources. Thus, embedding technological and bio-based approaches in wider system
innovation with policy interventions proposed by countries either individually or through
collaborative efforts among governments in support of bio-economy business by
implementing more circular practices. Also, designing and proposing business models help to
find the good technological route and structure their operations when transitioning to more
circular value propositions to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss towards
sustainability.