Environmental and Economical Evaluation of Microalgae Cultivation for Biofuel Production

Microalgae have attracted notable attention as an ideal candidate feedstock for producing sustainable transport biofuels. In this study, the energy and carbonbalance, environmental impacts and production cost of microalgae that can be appropriate criteria for the future economic viability and environmental sustainability, were examined. The analysis shows that achieving a positive energy balance will require technological promotions and highly optimized production systems. There are some important aspects including energy required for pumping, the embodied energy required for construction, the embodiedenergy in fertilizer, and the energy required for drying and de-watering, that should be addressed in a viable commercial system. System design and implementation options were constrained by environmental impacts from water management, carbon dioxide handling, and nutrient supply. Cost stimationsshowed that if CO2, nutrients and water can be obtained at low cost, more than 50% reductions in cost may be possible. But this important requirement coulddramatically restrict the number of locations available. However, Cost estimations should be improved which needs empirical data on the performanceof biofuel production systems.

Keywords:

Microalgae , Biofuel , Energy Balance , Environmental impacts , Production cost