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Economic analysis of microalgae biodiesel production in a small-scale facility
Industrial production and commercialization of biodiesel from microalgae have become a good alternative to conventional feedstock. Microalgae show high growth rate and carbon sequestration and can be easily cultivate in fresh and/or marine water, using non-arable soil. This study aims to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of biodiesel production from Phaeodactylum tricornutum, using an algae biomass production scaled-up scenario, considering local reality prices and available technologies. The model assumes 80,000 m3 of microalgae cultivation, in a set of bubble column photobioreactors installed on 15.247 ha of land, reaching a total of 1,811 tons of microalgae biomass and 171,705 L of biodiesel per year. The production cost estimated for microalgae biomass is 2.01 € kg−1 and for biodiesel is 0.33 € L−1. The ROI calculated for the project is 10% with a 10 years’ payback time and an EBITDA of 588,139 € year−1. Despite the project’s viability in the medium term, the cost of producing microalgae biodiesel remains high when compared to fossil fuels. Thus, unless greater technological maturity is achieved to make the process more economical, it will not be viable in the short term. ; This work was financially supported by Base Funding – UIDB/00511/2020 of Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE – funded by National funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), Portugal; Base Funding – UIDB/04730/2020 of Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology, CIETI – funded by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003; project EXTRATOTECA - POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033784, funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) and by national funds (PIDDAC) through FCT/MCTES, Portugal; António Martins thank FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia), Portugal for funding through program DL 57/2016 – Norma transitória. Monique Branco-Vieira also thanks the grants: PFRH Petrobrás (Brazil) and European Commission (through Erasmus Mundus Program) postgraduate research scholarship and “Convenio de Desempeño Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Bioeconomía”, from the Chilean government , for their support throughout the experimental work. The authors acknowledge Cristian Agurto and Sergio San Martín for supporting the experimental data collection at the pilot-plant in Concepción, Chile, during the Research Visiting period of Branco-Vieira in GIBMAR (Biotechnology Centre of the University of Concepción). ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Economic analysis of microalgae biodiesel production in a small-scale facility
Industrial production and commercialization of biodiesel from microalgae have become a good alternative to conventional feedstock. Microalgae show high growth rate and carbon sequestration and can be easily cultivate in fresh and/or marine water, using non-arable soil. This study aims to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of biodiesel production from Phaeodactylum tricornutum, using an algae biomass production scaled-up scenario, considering local reality prices and available technologies. The model assumes 80,000 m3 of microalgae cultivation, in a set of bubble column photobioreactors installed on 15.247 ha of land, reaching a total of 1,811 tons of microalgae biomass and 171,705 L of biodiesel per year. The production cost estimated for microalgae biomass is 2.01 € kg−1 and for biodiesel is 0.33 € L−1. The ROI calculated for the project is 10% with a 10 years’ payback time and an EBITDA of 588,139 € year−1. Despite the project’s viability in the medium term, the cost of producing microalgae biodiesel remains high when compared to fossil fuels. Thus, unless greater technological maturity is achieved to make the process more economical, it will not be viable in the short term. ; This work was financially supported by Base Funding – UIDB/00511/2020 of Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE – funded by National funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), Portugal; Base Funding – UIDB/04730/2020 of Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology, CIETI – funded by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003; project EXTRATOTECA - POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033784, funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) and by national funds (PIDDAC) through FCT/MCTES, Portugal; António Martins thank FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia), Portugal for funding through program DL 57/2016 – Norma transitória. Monique Branco-Vieira also thanks the grants: PFRH Petrobrás (Brazil) and European Commission (through Erasmus Mundus Program) postgraduate research scholarship and “Convenio de Desempeño Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Bioeconomía”, from the Chilean government , for their support throughout the experimental work. The authors acknowledge Cristian Agurto and Sergio San Martín for supporting the experimental data collection at the pilot-plant in Concepción, Chile, during the Research Visiting period of Branco-Vieira in GIBMAR (Biotechnology Centre of the University of Concepción). ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Economic analysis of microalgae biodiesel production in a small-scale facility
Branco-Vieira, M. (author) / Mata, T.M. (author) / Martins, A.A. (author) / Freitas, M.A.V. (author) / Caetano, Nídia (author)
2020-01-01
doi:10.1016/j.egyr.2020.11.156
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
690
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