Balancing Water Sustainability and Productivity Objectives in Microalgae Cultivation: Siting Open Ponds by Considering Seasonal Water-Stress Impact Using AWARE-US

Xu, Hui; Lee, Uisung; Coleman, André M.; Wigmosta, Mark S.; Sun, Ning; Hawkins, Troy; Wang, Michael

doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b05347

Balancing Water Sustainability and Productivity Objectives in Microalgae Cultivation: Siting Open Ponds by Considering Seasonal Water-Stress Impact Using AWARE-US

Journal Article · Fri Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b05347· OSTI ID:1600594

^[1]; ^[1]; Coleman, André M. ^[2]; Wigmosta, Mark S. ^[2]; Sun, Ning ^[2]; Hawkins, Troy ^[1]; Wang, Michael ^[1]

Systems Assessment Group, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
Hydrology Technical Group, Earth Systems Science Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99352, United States

Microalgae have great potential as an energy and feed resource. Here we evaluate the water use associated with freshwater algae cultivation and find it is possible to scale U.S. algae biofuel production to 20.8 billion liters of renewable diesel annually without significant water-stress impact. Among potential sites, water-stress is significantly more variable than algae productivity across location and season. Thus, it is possible to reduce water-stress impact, quantified as water scarcity footprint, through the choice of algae site location. We test three site-selection criteria based on (1) biomass productivity, (2) water-use efficiency, and (3) water-stress impact and find that adding water-stress constraints to productivity-based ranking of suitable sites reduces water-stress impact by 97% and water consumption by half, compared with biomass-productivity ranking alone, with little productivity impact (<1.7% per-site on average). With 20.8 billion liters, algae could meet 19.7% of U.S. jet fuel demand with a freshwater demand of less than 1.4% of U.S. irrigation consumption. Evaluating water-stress impact is important because the impact of unit water consumption on water stress varies significantly across regions and seasons. Considering seasonal water balances allows producers to understand the combined seasonal effects of hydrologic flows and productivity, thereby avoiding potential short-term water stress.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Bioenergy Technologies Office (EE-3B)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1600594

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1600717
OSTI ID: 1606530

Journal Information:: Environmental Science and Technology, Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 54; ISSN 0013-936X

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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