Effects of system design and Co-product treatment strategies on the life cycle performance of biofuels from microalgae

Zhang, Yizhen; Kendall, Alissa

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.137

Title: Effects of system design and Co-product treatment strategies on the life cycle performance of biofuels from microalgae

Journal Article · Wed May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Cleaner Production

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.137· OSTI ID:1613277

Zhang, Yizhen ^[1]; Kendall, Alissa ^[2]

Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)

This study presents a life cycle greenhouse gas and energy assessment for two algal biofuel production pathways: biodiesel produced through lipid extraction (LE) and renewable diesel produced through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The two production pathways generate different co-products, which are handled through allocation in life cycle assessment-based analyses. The method and assumptions used for co-product allocation affect the performance of the analyzed fuels, and are thus examined through scenario analysis; five co-product allocation strategies are tested for the LE pathway and six are tested for the HTL pathway. After allocation, the carbon intensity of renewable diesel varies from 36 to 54 gCO₂e/MJ, and the primary energy consumption of renewable diesel varies from 0.7 to 1.2 MJ/MJ; while the carbon intensity of biodiesel ranges, remarkably, from -59 to 125 gCO₂e/MJ, and the primary energy consumption of biodiesel ranges from 0.1 to 1.7 MJ/MJ. The optimal algal oil production pathway is determined by comparing open-loop and closed-loop systems, considering not only the estimated net environmental impacts, but also the confidence or uncertainty of those outcomes.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office; USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0003373

OSTI ID:: 1613277

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1527190

Journal Information:: Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 230; ISSN 0959-6526

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 9 works

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Title: Effects of system design and Co-product treatment strategies on the life cycle performance of biofuels from microalgae

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