Energy analysis and environmental impacts of microalgal biodiesel in China

The entire life cycle of biodiesel produced by microalgal biomasses was evaluated using the method of life cycle assessment (LCA) to identify and quantify the fossil energy requirements and environmental impact loading of the system. The life cycle considers microalgae cultivation, harvesting, drying, oil extraction, anaerobic digestion, oil transportation, esterification, biodiesel transportation and biodiesel combustion. The investigation results show that the fossil energy requirement for the biodiesel production is 0.74MJ/MJ biodiesel, indicating that 1MJ of biodiesel requires an input of 0.74MJ of fossil energy. Accordingly, biodiesel production is feasible as an energy producing process. The environmental impact loading of microalgal biodiesel is 3.69 PET2010 (Person Equivalents, Targeted, in 2010) and the GWP is 0.16kg CO2-eq/MJ biodiesel. The effects of photochemical ozone formation were greatest among all calculated categorization impacts. The fossil energy requirement and GWP in this operation were found to be particularly sensitive to oil content, drying rate and esterification rate. Overall, the results presented herein indicate that the cultivation of microalgae has the potential to produce an environmentally sustainable feedstock for the production of biodiesel.

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