PARUL UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

CRITICAL EVALUATION OF JOURNAL PAPER

This activity is an individual activity. Each student has to refer FIVE research papers related to their project title and each paper is to be
reviewed as per below. Student need to prepare word file for each paper evaluation and submit it .

Student Details:
Student Name: Dhruvik Parmar
Enrollment:No:210305103709 Branch: Chemical Engineering
Title of Journal Paper:
Microalgae for biofuels via
thermochemical conversion
processes: A review
of cultivation, harvesting and drying
processes, and the associated
opportunities for integrated
production
Authors: A. Aliyu a,b,* ,J.G.M. Lee
a, A.P. Harvey a
Journal/Conference:Bioresource
Technology Reports
Volume/Issue: 14 (2021) Pages: 100676

Dissection of Paper:

Section 01: Abstract / Introduction (Read the abstract and answer the following questions)
1 What is the objective of the Paper?

• The objective of the paper is to provide an overview of microalgae cultivation, focusing on

the early energy-intensive stages: growth, harvesting and drying. The paper also covers
microalgal cultivation and its integration with wastewater treatment, carbon and energy
sources, and the utilization of microalgal biofuel co-products from thermochemical
conversion.

2 What are the main results mentioned in the abstract?

• Microalgae has several advantages over other biomass feedstocks for biofuel production,
including a rapid growth rate, the ability to absorb CO2, and the potential to be cultivated
in wastewater.
• The early stages of microalgae cultivation, namely growth, harvesting, and drying, are
energy-intensive.
• The harvesting and drying steps are a significant economic bottleneck due to their high
energy costs.
• Microalgal cultivation can be integrated with wastewater treatment, carbon and energy
sources, and the utilization of microalgal biofuel co-products from thermochemical
conversion.
 • The thermochemical conversion route is the most likely to mitigate the techno-economic
downsides of microalgal biofuel production.

3 What rational is given by the authors, attributing importance to the research problem?
• The need for alternative sustainable sources of energy due to the rising demand for energy,
environmental concerns over the emission of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, and the
projected shortage of fossil fuels.
• The potential of microalgae as a source of renewable sustainable liquid derived fuel.
• The advantages of microalgae over other biomass feedstocks for biofuel production, such as
a rapid growth rate, the ability to absorb CO2, and the potential to be cultivated in
wastewater.
• The need to overcome the economic obstacles to microalgal biofuel production, such as the
high cost of cultivation, harvesting, and drying.

4 How many earlier works are cited by the authors, and what are the perceived drawbacks of
these earlier works?

• The authors cite 15 earlier works in the introduction. The perceived drawbacks of these
earlier works are:

➢ They focus on land-based biomass, while aquatic biomass (algae) is a more promising
feedstock for biofuel production.

➢ They do not consider the use of microalgae for wastewater treatment.

➢ They do not consider the use of integrated microalgae biomass production systems.

➢ They do not consider the techno-economic analysis of microalgae biofuel production.

• Section 02: Methodology

1. Describe the methodology is used by author(s) to address the research problem?

• Cultivation
• Harvesting
• Drying

2.In what way the methodology used by the authors is relevant to the methodology you
proposed to adopt?

• methodologies focus on the production of biofuels from microalgae.

• methodologies consider the different factors that affect the productivity of microalgae, such
as the cultivation method, harvesting method, and drying method.
• methodologies evaluate the economic viability of the different production methods

Section 03: Results and conclusions

 1. What are the variables used for the analysis.
• Light intensity
• Temperature
• pH,
• nutrient availability
• salinity
• CO2 concentration
• inoculum size
• reactor type
• mixing regime
• scale of operation.

2. List the results obtained by the authors.

• Continuous cultivation is the most efficient method for microalgae production, but it is also
the most expensive.
• Centrifugation is the most reliable method for harvesting microalgae, but it is also the most
expensive.
• There is no one-size-fits-all solution for drying microalgae, and all of the methods have
limitations.

3.What are the conclusions drawn by the authors from the study.

• The early stages of microalgae cultivation systems (growth, harvesting, and drying) are
critical to the overall process economics.
• The most energy-intensive steps in the overall process are harvesting and drying.

Write a critical analysis of the paper (about 200 words)

[Critical Analysis shall contain introduction to the topic, aim, methodology, key findings, and
important conclusions]

Introduction
The paper discusses the potential of microalgae as a source of renewable biofuel. The authors
start by providing an overview of the current state of the biofuel industry, and the challenges
that need to be addressed in order to make microalgae biofuel a more viable option. The aim of
the paper is to review the first steps in microalgal biofuel production: cultivation, harvesting,
and drying. discuss integrated microalgae biomass production, as this is seen as the most
promising route to overcoming the economic obstacles to microalgae biofuel production. The
paper is a review of the literature, and the authors draw on a wide range of sources to support
their arguments. They also use techno-economic analysis (TEA) to predict the selling prices of
liquid biofuels from microalgae. Microalgae has the potential to be a sustainable source of
biofuel, but there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed, such as the high cost
of cultivation and harvesting. Integrated microalgae biomass production is seen as the most
promising route to overcoming these challenges. TEA suggests that the selling prices of liquid
biofuels from microalgae could be competitive with fossil fuels, but further research is needed
to confirm this. Important conclusions The paper concludes by stating that microalgae biofuel
has the potential to be a major player in the future of the biofuel industry. However, further
research is needed to address the challenges that need to be overcome before microalgae
biofuel can become a commercially viable option.