Professional Documents
Culture Documents
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe
Article history: The use of microalgae and cyanobacteria for the production of biofuels and other raw
Received 1 November 2011 materials is considered a very promising sustainable technology due to the high areal
Received in revised form productivity, potential for CO2 fixation and use of non-arable land. The production of oil by
25 February 2012 microalgae in a large scale plant was studied using emergy analysis. The joint transformity
Accepted 5 September 2012 calculated for the base scenario was 1.32E þ 5 sej/J, the oil transformity was 3.51E þ 5 sej/J,
Available online 9 October 2012 the emergy yield ratio (EYR) was 1.09 and environmental loading ratio was 11.10 and the
emergy sustainability index (ESI) was 0.10, highlighting some of the key challenges for the
Keywords: technology such as high energy consumption during harvesting, raw material consump-
Emergy analysis tion and high capital and operation costs. Alternatives scenarios and the sensitivity to
Microalgae process improvements were also assessed, helping prioritize further research based on
Renewable feedstocks sustainability impact.
Emergy indices ª 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sustainability
Oil Biomass
Natural
Water Nutrients Labor Services Steel Concrete Electricity Hexane
Gas
Assets
Natural
Resources
Oil
maintenance, SARD (Sales, Administration and R&D), prop- composition, but assuming breakthroughs in harvesting and
erty taxes and insurance estimated as function of the total extraction allowing a 50% reduction in energy consumption.
capital or operating labor costs [20]. Culture and harvesting
costs, raw materials and energy consumption were based on
published process and economic analysis [5,7,8]. The oil 3. Results and discussion
extraction phase was based on current processes for the
production of soy oil [21]. The problem of co-production of oil Table 3 shows the emergy evaluation table for the base case.
and dry biomass was addressed by calculating the joint The major renewable flows are related the water to make-up
transformities for the system [22]. Fig. 2 shows the emergy for the net losses by evaporation in the tanks and in the
diagram for the system considered in this study, splitting the drying section, which can be supplied by a nearby river or
process between the ponds and the industrial phase and well. The joint transformity for the system, considering the
accounting for all environment and economy inputs. energy content of both products is 1.32E þ 5 sej J1, or
The impact of some of the key process variables (areal 1.05E þ 5 sej J1 excluding the flows related to services. The
productivity, oil content and energy demand) was assessed by calculated transformity of the oil was 3.51E þ 5 sej J1 (or
evaluating the emergy indices for three alternative scenarios, 2.79E þ 5 sej J1 excluding services), in agreement with ranges
described in Table 2. The high productivity scenario considers obtained for the production of traditional seed oils
the same culture area (raceway ponds) as the base scenario, (2.78E þ 5 sej J1 for sunflower [18] and 3.51E þ 5 for soy oil [21])
also with 25% oil content and same volumetric energy and with the transformity of 2.64E þ 5 sej J1 calculated for oil
consumption, but with an average areal productivity of extracted from macroalgae from a natural lake [21]. Energy
60 g m2 day1. Culture media consumption and the harvesting (electricity and natural gas) for pumping, mixing, harvesting,
and extraction sections were adjusted accordingly to account drying and extracting the oil accounts for 59.4% of the emergy
for the shorter harvesting cycles and larger volumes of inputs of the system. The hexane consumption, caused by
suspension to be processed e impacting in more filter, centri- loses in the extraction process and water reposition to balance
fuges and driers, for example. The high oil content scenario losses by evaporation and harvesting were also relevant
considered the same productivity and culture system for the inputs, representing respectively 11% and 7.4% of the total
base case, but for a microorganism being cultured to 75% oil emergy used by the system.
content. The most relevant changes to the model in this Table 4 summarizes the results of the analysis of emergy
scenario are the energy composition of the products (the indices for the reference scenario. The renewable content is
energy density of lipids is almost twice the density of protein only 8.3% and the emergy yield ratio (EYR) and environmental
and carbohydrates) and changes in the extraction step and loading ratio (ELR) are comparable to other very energy
solvent consumption. Finally, the energy efficiency scenario intensive processes for the alternative production of biofuels,
considers the same growth conditions and microalgae such as the production of ethanol from grapes in Italy
(EYR ¼ 1.22 and ELR ¼ 13.63 [12]). The emergy sustainability
index was considerably lower than typical ranges for biofuels
Table 2 e Alternative scenarios for sensitivity analysis. (0.3e0.5) or seed oils (ca. 1.0). The high environmental loading
is mostly due to high energy needs for harvesting, drying and
Scenario Assumptions
extraction associated to considerable investments of mate-
High productivity Average areal productivity of 60 g m2 day1 rials and services. A similar behavior has also been reported
High oil content 75% oil content in biomass
for the integrated production of biofuels from palm [13]. If only
Energy efficient 50% reduction in energy consumption
the cultivation step is considered, the renewable content is
process
30.5% and emergy yield ratio (EYR ¼ 1.44) and the
b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 1 2 ) 4 1 8 e4 2 5 421
environmental loading ratio (ELR ¼ 2.28) are closer to values materials and services) as non-renewable, regardless of their
typically obtained for agricultural systems. source. More recently, some authors have been assessing the
The indices referenced above for effect of comparison were renewable fraction of each flow when calculating the indices
calculated using the traditional methodology that considers [10]. Though considerably increasing the complexity of the
the total flow of resources from the economy (purchased analysis, this approach is supposed to correct deviations and
account for the positive impact of using materials with higher
renewable content in the process. For some systems, it has
Table 4 e Emergy indices for reference scenario. been demonstrated that this correction can almost double the
Index Value Unit emergy sustainability indices (ESI) [25]. Even though no major
impact to the indices is expected for the system studied,
Total emergy (Y) 1.14E þ 20 Sej year1
considering an algae farm located in Central Texas, the
Total emergy w/o services 9.07E þ 19 Sej year1
alternative calculation would show considerably better
Energy of products (Ep) 8.61E þ 14 J year1
Energy of oil (Eoil) 3.25E þ 14 J year1 results for algae systems installed in countries where the
Joint transformity (Y/Ep) 1.32E þ 05 Sej J1 sources of energy have higher renewable content, such as
Joint transformity w/o services 1.05E þ 05 Sej J1 Brazil, where hydroelectricity and electricity from biomass
Transformity of oil (Y/Eoil) 3.51E þ 05 Sej J1 and other renewable sources account for almost 80% of the
Transformity of oil w/o Services 2.79E þ 05 Sej J1 electricity produced. Likewise, the use of biomass as the
Specific emergy of oil 1.18E þ 10 Sej g1
source of heat from drying and extraction would have a posi-
Specific emergy of oil w/o Services 9.35E þ 09 Sej g1
tive impact in the adjusted emergy indices.
R (Natural, renewable) 9.39E þ 18 Sej year1
N (Natural, non-renewable) 0.00E þ 00 Sej year1 The industrial phase, due to the impact of capital invest-
M (Materials) 8.10E þ 19 Sej year1 ment and energy, accounts for most of the emergy flows into
S (Services) 2.33E þ 19 Sej year1 the system. Fig. 3 shows the distribution of emergy demand
I (Natural resources) 9.39E þ 18 Sej year1 through the process by flow class and process step.
F (Resources from economy) 1.04E þ 20 Sej year1 Three alternative scenarios assuming improved technol-
%Renewablea 8.3%
ogies to allow higher productivity, higher oil content and
EYRa 1.09
EIRa 11.10
lower energy demands were also studied to assess the
ELRa 11.10 impact of those important process variables to overall
ESIa 0.10 sustainability and resource utilization by the system. Fig. 4
summarizes the transformity, emergy sustainability index
a Including services.
and renewable content for each scenario. The impact of oil
422 b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 1 2 ) 4 1 8 e4 2 5
8E+19
7E+19
6E+19
5E+19
4E+19 Ponds
Industrial Phase
3E+19
2E+19
1E+19
0E+00
Renewable Non-Renewable Materials Services
2%
0%
4. Conclusion
Base High productivity High oil content Energy efficient
process
Emergy analysis is a powerful tool for assessing the impact of
0.16 a given technology or project to the environment and the
Emergy Sustainability Index (ESI)
case, still presented a lower efficiency in the utilization of energy demand, which are also some the areas of the process
resources than the less competitive alternative biofuels, such with highest impact on project economics [26]. The sustain-
as ethanol from corn or grapes. Those results highlight the ability indices can also be improved by using energy sources
importance of developing more efficient technologies for with higher renewable emergy content e such us hydroelec-
harvesting, extraction and drying, with lower capital costs and tricity, wind or biomass.
Appendix
1 Solar energy
Solar radiation 1.65E þ 06 Wh m2 year1 [27]
Albedo 1.30E-01 [27]
Conversion 3.60E þ 03 J Wh1
Energy ¼ Radiation (1-Albedo) 5.17E þ 09 J m2 year1
Area 5.00E þ 06 m2
Total Energy 2.59E þ 16 J year1
2 Rain
Average precipitation 1.06E þ 03 mm year1 [27]
Area 5.00E þ 06 m2
Rain (mass) ¼ Average 5.31E þ 09 kg year1
precipitation area density
3 Geothermal heat
Areal average flow 3.00E þ 06 J m2 year1 [9]
Area 5.00E þ 06 m2
Energy ¼ flow area 1.50E þ 13 J year1
4 Water (Make-up)
Net losses evaporation 6.60E þ 09 kg year1 [28]
Drying 1.37E þ 05 kg year1 99% of water removed, slurry initially at
21.9% solids
Final Product 1.49E þ 03 kg year1 4.7% water in final product
Water (sum) 6.73E þ 09 kg year1
5 Nutrients e Nitrogen
N demand 9.54E-02 kg N kg1 biomass Average composition of Spirulina platensis
[29]
Biomass harvested 4.13E þ 07 kg year1
N consumption (growth) 3.94E þ 06 kg year1
Losses 4.48E þ 04 kg year1 1.8% extracellular salts in dry biomass
sold
N flow (sum) 3.98E þ 06 kg N year1
6 Nutrients e Potassium
P demand 7.54E-03 kg P kg1 biomass Average composition of Spirulina platensis
[29]
Biomass harvested 4.13E þ 07 kg year1
P consumption (growth) 3.07E þ 05 kg year1
Losses 3.50E þ 03 kg year1 1.8% extracellular salts in dry biomass
sold
P flow (sum) 3.11E þ 05 kg P year1
7 Concrete (Ponds)
Perimeter 1.52E þ 03 m
Internal wall 5.05E þ 02 m
Total walls 2.02E þ 03 m
Thickness 1.00E-01 m
Height 4.00E-01 m
Volume 8.09E þ 01 m3
Density 2.40E þ 03 kg m3
Total mass per pond 1.94E þ 05 kg concrete pond1
Number of ponds 63 Ponds
Project life 25 Years
Concrete flow 4.89E þ 05 kg concrete year1
8 Iron
Iron reinforcement in concrete 3.50E þ 01 kg m3 [21]
Volume of concrete per pond 8.09E þ 01 m3 See Item 7
Appendix (continued )
Reference
Appendix (continued )
Reference
1
Total 3,110,902 $ year
17 Residual biomass
Energy density 17 kJ g1 For proteins and carbohydrates
1.70E þ 07 Jvkg1
18 Algal oil
Energy density 33.5 kJ g1 [18]
3.35E þ 07 J kg1