Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels in the United States

Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels in the United States
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2013-01-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309260329

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Biofuels made from algae are gaining attention as a domestic source of renewable fuel. However, with current technologies, scaling up production of algal biofuels to meet even 5 percent of U.S. transportation fuel needs could create unsustainable demands for energy, water, and nutrient resources. Continued research and development could yield innovations to address these challenges, but determining if algal biofuel is a viable fuel alternative will involve comparing the environmental, economic and social impacts of algal biofuel production and use to those associated with petroleum-based fuels and other fuel sources. Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels was produced at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels in the United States

Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels in the United States
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2012-12-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309260353

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Biofuels made from algae are gaining attention as a domestic source of renewable fuel. However, with current technologies, scaling up production of algal biofuels to meet even 5 percent of U.S. transportation fuel needs could create unsustainable demands for energy, water, and nutrient resources. Continued research and development could yield innovations to address these challenges, but determining if algal biofuel is a viable fuel alternative will involve comparing the environmental, economic and social impacts of algal biofuel production and use to those associated with petroleum-based fuels and other fuel sources. Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels was produced at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Socioeconomic Indicators for Sustainable Design and Commercial Development of Algal Biofuel Systems

Socioeconomic Indicators for Sustainable Design and Commercial Development of Algal Biofuel Systems
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 59
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

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Socio-economic sustainability indicators that have been proposed previously for terrestrial bioenergy were evaluated for applicability to algal biofuels. Indicators developed for terrestrial bioenergy were found to be appropriate and sufficient for algae biofuels, meeting the selection criteria of practicality, wide applicability, predictability in response to management, anticipation of future changes, adaptability to multiple scales where possible, ability to integrate multiple dimensions, and non-redundancy. The 16 indicators fall into the categories of social well-being, energy security, external trade, profitability, resource conservation, and social acceptability. None of the indicators have yet been measured in published sustainability assessments for commercial facilities. Indicators estimated for various scenarios in the scientific literature include the profitability indicators return on investment and net present value, and the resource conservation indicator, fossil energy return on investment. The food security indicator, percent change in food price volatility, is easy to estimate at zero if agricultural lands are not used. Some indicators, such as the energy security indicators energy security premium and fuel price volatility and the external trade indicators terms of trade and trade volume cannot be projected into the future with accuracy, so they will not be measured prior to significant commercialization of algal biofuels. Furthermore, the list of proposed sustainability indicators may be adjusted to particular purposes and contexts. Together with environmental sustainability indicators, these socioeconomic sustainability indicators should contribute to sustainability assessments for algal biofuels.

Algal Biofuels

Algal Biofuels
Author: Sanjay Kumar Gupta
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2017-02-26
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 331951010X

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This edited volume focuses on comprehensive state-of-the-art information about the practical aspects of cultivation, harvesting, biomass processing and biofuel production from algae. Chapters cover topics such as synthetic ecological engineering approaches towards sustainable production of biofuel feedstock, and algal biofuel production processes using wastewater. Readers will also discover more about the role of biotechnological engineering in improving ecophysiology, biomass and lipid yields. Particular attention is given to opportunities of commercialization of algal biofuels that provides a realistic assessment of various techno-economical aspects of pilot scale algal biofuel production. The authors also explore the pre-treatment of biomass, catalytic conversion of algal lipids and hydrothermal liquefaction with the biorefinery approach in detail. In a nut shell, this volume will provide a wealth of information based on a realistic evaluation of contemporary developments in algal biofuel research with an emphasis on pilot scale studies. Researchers studying and working in the areas of environmental science, biotechnology, genetic engineering and biochemistry will find this work instructive and informative.

Algae to Energy and Sustainable Development. Technologies, Resources, Economics and System Analyses. New Design of Global Environmental Policy and Live Conserve Industry

Algae to Energy and Sustainable Development. Technologies, Resources, Economics and System Analyses. New Design of Global Environmental Policy and Live Conserve Industry
Author: Armen Avagyan
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2018-05-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9781718722552

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The book is devoted to the current problem of global sustainable development; conflicts with the effective system working that allow making some conclusion for further compatibility improvements. At foremost, analyses look at recent international and own researchers dealing with algae technology and conversation to energy. The total global production of macroalgae is superior about 100 times compared to microalgae or 19 - 23 million tons by dry weight and market at $5 - 6 billion. Macroalgal biomass has a potential for the production of biofuels and can be used also for decentralized wastewater cleaning. The analyses showed that development microalgae producing have all necessary unlimited resources such as land and water (wastewater and groundwater). Food waste use for microalgae cultivation can lead to GHG mitigation up to 3.3 GTCO2e/yr or 8 % of global emissions. The UNEP ignored high carbon capture and storage (CCS) potential of algae. Simultaneously, international organization and researchers as main constraints for microalgae biofuels have described the cost of their production based on comparing with prices of oil fuels and crop biofuels. Comparison of the cost of microalgal biofuel production with a subsided prices of oil and crops biofuel is a methodical mistake as the governments have paid part of their fuel price from public funds as well as it is necessary to take into account also large scale production competitive benefits. It is stressed that many projects and Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are based on using fertilizers for nutrition microalgae. According to the ISO/TS 14067, we estimated day input of including fertilizers with nitrogen content in the total emissions of the product full life cycle by expanding of LCA boundary. Calculation emission by the use of last U.S. NPEL design of microalgae to biofuel showed that only used fertilizers with nitrogen content for the day microalgae biomass production release CO2 emission 63.56 kgCO2e per kg of the produced microalgae biomass. This is more that impact of CCS by algae cultivation - 1.83 kgCO2e per kg of algal biomass, gasoline and diesel emissions by combustion in motor vehicles (gasoline is realized 2.29 kgCO2/L (E10 - 2.21 and E85 - 1.61 kgCO2/L ) and diesel - 2.66 kgCO2/L (B5 - 2.65 and B20 - 2.62 kgCO2/L)) as well as sum of crude oils extraction-to-refining (4 to 50 gCO2e/megajoule (MJ) (about half of the total EU plants has extraction-to-refining emission from 4 to 9 gCO2/MJ) and combustion in motor vehicle emissions of 73 gCO2e/MJ). This proves that phototrophic growth of microalgae has no perspective for commercial production. The additional stressed issue is that in 2016, biofuel crops boost fertilizer industry and nitrogen fertilizer consumption intended to biofuels production. Therefore, it offered that first generation biofuel producers should seriously think about the use of feedstock yields originated by the use of organic agriculture approach. As a result of system analyses, it made the conclusion that sole main barrier for realizing of algae biofuel potential is ineffective international and governmental policies which create difficulties in the coupling of the goals between economic development and environmental activity. Therefore, we offered the new design of environmental police and relevant innovative financial mechanisms in a framework of Public/Private Partnership for archiving of effective investment flow to mitigation pollution. This policy based on recognizing of Life Conserve industry as the separate branch of production and each company which activity direct or indirect decrease pollution must receive payment for the impact of their products. Simultaneously, the analysis provides that near-term microalgae come to big feed additives market as feed additives for animals and for the fishmeal replacement in aquaculture due to competitive cost archived by technological advancement and benefits of their content.

Algal Biorefinery

Algal Biorefinery
Author: Ajay K. Dalai
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2021-07-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000410838

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This book enables readers to understand the theoretical aspects, key steps and scientific techniques with a detailed mechanism to produce biofuels from algae. Each chapter provides the latest developments and recent advancements starting from algal cultivation techniques to the production of value-added green fuels, chemicals and products with wide applications. The volume brings together a broad range of international and interdisciplinary experts, including chemical and biological engineers, biotechnologists, process engineers, environmentalists, pharmacists and nutritionists, to one platform to explore the beneficial aspects and challenges for an algal-based biorefinery. Chapters address cutting-edge issues surrounding algal cultivation, including genetic modification of algal strains, design and optimization of photobioreactors and open-pond systems, algal oil extraction techniques and algal-derived fuel products (biodiesel, bio-gasoline, jet fuels and bio-oil). Finally, the book considers the potential environmental impacts for establishing a sustainable algal biorefinery through lifecycle analysis, techno-economic assessment and supply chain management. This book will be an important resource for students, academics and professionals interested in algal cultivation, biofuels and agricultural engineering, and renewable energy and sustainable development more broadly.

Potentiating Algae, Modernizing Bioeconomies

Potentiating Algae, Modernizing Bioeconomies
Author: Duygu Kasdogan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

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This dissertation is an ethnography of potentiation the labourious processes by which potential is imagined and materialized. It investigates how life scientists and engineers potentiate algae as alternative sustainable biofuels in the wake of the global food versus fuel debate of the late 2000s. I draw on two years of multi-sited ethnographic research conducted in the United States and Turkey to document why, how, and to what end do algal biofuel advocates figure algae as a material brimming with potential. I show that this potential is grounded in the reproductive capacities of algae as a life form, through its activation in environmental remediation projects, and through its compatibility with new biotechnologies and bioeconomic markets. At its heart, this dissertation troubles the notion of potentiality in two ways: it disrupts imaginaries of algaes potential as a natural, innate sustainable energy resource, while it simultaneously de-naturalizes ideas about the inherent potential of the United States as the hegemonic model of all bioeconomies. I begin with a historical overview of biofuels research in the United States and Turkey to demonstrate national differences in algal biofuel advocacy. While state and governmental initiatives profoundly shape algal biofuels research in the United States, the biofuels sector is actively sidelined by the Turkish state. As this dissertation demonstrates, Turkish scientists instead have sought to fill this science and energy policy vacuum by modeling algal biofuels inside their imaginaries of modernity. As such, this dissertation intends to provincialize American-centered accounts of bioeconomies. Further, it contributes to STS literature on bioeconomies by examining how biovalue is made within systems, as well as inside of the frameworks of systems biology and integrated systems of production. By drawing on fieldwork conducted inside laboratories, conferences, and critical textual analyses, I coin the analytic of built ecologies the infrastructures such as test tubes and photobioreactors to unpack how sustainable algal biofuels are made and remade inside of designed and engineered processes. Challenging these processes, this dissertation instead invites readers to explore alternate ways of engaging with algae and biofuels as a way to confront relentless reductions of life forms into energetic biomass.

Algal Biofuels Guide

Algal Biofuels Guide
Author: U. S. Department of Energy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2017-04-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781521071557

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Algal biomass is a fast-growing, renewable resource and a promising feedstock for advanced biofuels. Algal biofuels are generating considerable interest around the world. In the United States, they represent promising pathways for helping to meet the biofuel production targets set by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Algae are a diverse group of primarily aquatic organisms that are capable of using photosynthesis to generate biomass. Some algal strains are able to double their mass several times per day. In some cases, more than half of that mass consists of lipids or tricylglycerides. These bio-oils can be used to produce drop-in replacements for diesel, gasoline, and aviation fuels. Some algae accumulate carbohydrates (including starch), which can also be used to form intermediates for processing into biofuels. Proteins from the residual biomass could provide supplemental feed for livestock and aquaculture operations. Advantages of Algal Feedstocks * A History of Domestic Algal Biofuels Development * Early Work to 1996 * Research from 1996 to Present * Algae-to-Biofuels: Opportunity and Challenges Today * Technology and Analysis Challenges * Regulations and Standards * Public-Private Partnerships * References * Algal Biology * Strain Isolation, Screening and Selection * Isolation and Characterization of Naturally Occurring Algae * Role of Culture Collections as National Algae Data Resource Centers * Selecting Algal Model Systems for Study * Algal Physiology and Biochemistry * Photosynthesis and Light Utilization * Carbon Partitioning and Metabolism * Algal Carbohydrates * Lipid Synthesis and Regulation. * Biohydrogen * Algal Biotechnology * The Genetic Toolbox * Enabling Technologies: "Omics" Approaches and Bioinformatics * Applications of Biotechnology to Algal Bioenergy * Considerations of Genetic Modifications * References * Algal Cultivation * Cultivation Pathways * Microalgae and Cyanobacteria * Macroalgae * Scale-Up Challenges * Stability of Large-Scale Cultures * System Productivity * Nutrient Sources, Sustainability, and Management * Water Management, Conservation, and Recycling * Downstream Processing: Harvesting and Dewatering * Approaches for Microalgae * Harvesting * Drying * Approaches for Macroalgae * Harvesting * Preprocessing * Systems Engineering * References * Preliminary Look at Energy Balance * Extraction of Products from Algae * Current Practices for Lipid Extraction * Mechanical Disruption (i.e., Cell Rupture) * Organic Co-solvent Mixtures * Accelerated Solvent Extraction * Selective Extraction * Subcritical Water Extraction * Supercritical Fluid Extraction * Heterotrophic Production * Challenges * References * Algal Biofuel Conversion Technologies * Direct Production of Biofuels from Algae * Alcohols Alkanes\ * Hydrogen * Processing of Whole Algae * Pyrolysis * Gasification * Liquefaction * Supercritical Processing * Anaerobic Digestion of Whole Algae * Conversion of Algal Extracts * Chemical Transesterification * Biochemical (Enzymatic) Conversion. * Catalytic Cracking * Conversion to Renewable Diesel, Gasoline, and Jet Fuel * Processing of Algal Remnants after Extraction * References * Co-products * Commercial Products from Microalgae and Cyanobacteria * Commercial Products from Macroalgae * Potential Options for the Recovery of Co-products * References * Distribution and Utilization * Distribution * Utilization * Algal Blendstocks to Replace Middle-Distillate Petroleum Products * Algal Blendstocks for Alcohol and Gasoline-Range Petroleum Products * References * Resources and Siting * Resource Requirements for Different Cultivation Approaches * Photoautotrophic Microalgae Approach * Heterotrophic Microalgae Approach * Photoautotrophic Macroalgae Approach * Resources Overview * Climate * Water * Carbon Dioxide * Land * Integration with Water Treatment Facilities * Wastewater Treatment and Recycling Applications * Algae Production Techniques for Wastewater Treatment Plants

Biofuels from Algae

Biofuels from Algae
Author: Kuan-Yeow Show
Publisher: Elsevier Inc. Chapters
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2013-08-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128083697

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Extensive effort is being made globally to develop various biofuels as an inexhaustible and renewable energy source. Biofuels are viewed as promising alternatives to conventional fossil fuels because they have the potential to eliminate major environmental problems such as global warming and climate change created by fossil fuels. Among the still-developing biofuel technologies, biodiesel production from algae offers a good prospect for large-scale practical use, considering the fact that algae are capable of producing much more yield than other biofuels such as corn and soybean crops. Although research on algae-based biofuel is still in its developing stage, extensive work on laboratory- and pilot-scale algae-harvesting systems with promising prospects has been reported. This chapter presents a discussion of the literature review of recent advances in algal biomass harvesting. The chapter focuses on stability and separability of algae and algae-harvesting methods. Challenges and prospects of algae harvesting are also outlined. The review aims to provide useful information for future development of efficient and commercially viable algal biodiesel production.

Algal Biofuel

Algal Biofuel
Author: Richa Kothari
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2022-12-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1000830527

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Algal Biofuel: Sustainable Solution primarily focuses on the different aspects of bioenergy production using algal biomass as microalgae are considered the optimum feedstock for bioenergy production. The major aim is to thoroughly review the available bioenergy options, challenges in bioenergy production, availability of bioenergy feedstock, and biomass to bioenergy conversion process. This book also highlights the feasibility of lignocellulosic biomass, crop residues, and non-edible oil seeds for generation of different bioenergy products. It will be helpful for researchers and other stakeholders working in the area of bioenergy production for development of innovative concepts in emerging areas of bioenergy. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan).