A Unified Modeling Framework to Advance Biofuel Production from Microalgae

Leow, Shijie; Shoener, Brian D.; Li, Yalin; DeBellis, Jennifer L.; Markham, Jennifer; Davis, Ryan; Laurens, Lieve M.  L.; Pienkos, Philip T.; Cook, Sherri M.; Strathmann, Timothy J.; Guest, Jeremy S.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b03663

Title: A Unified Modeling Framework to Advance Biofuel Production from Microalgae

Journal Article · Fri Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b03663· OSTI ID:1484430

^[1]; Shoener, Brian D. ^[2];

^[3]; DeBellis, Jennifer L. ^[4]; Markham, Jennifer ^[5]; Davis, Ryan ^[5];

^[5]; Pienkos, Philip T. ^[5];

^[6]; Strathmann, Timothy J. ^[7];

^[4]

Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Newmark Civil Engineering Lab.
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). National Bioenergy Center
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). National Bioenergy Center; Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Modeling efforts to understand the financial implications of microalgal biofuels often assume a static basis for microalgae biomass composition and cost, which has constrained cultivation and downstream conversion process design and limited in-depth understanding of their interdependencies. For this work, a dynamic biological cultivation model was integrated with thermo-chemical/biological unit process models for downstream biorefineries to increase modeling fidelity, to provide mechanistic links among unit operations, and to quantify minimum product selling prices of biofuels via techno-economic analysis. Variability in design, cultivation, and conversion parameters were characterized through Monte Carlo simulation, and sensitivity analyses were conducted to identify key cost and fuel yield drivers. Cultivating biomass to achieve the minimum biomass selling price or to achieve maximum lipid content were shown to lead to suboptimal fuel production costs. Depending on biomass composition, both hydrothermal liquefaction and a biochemical fractionation process (combined algal processing) were shown to have advantageous minimum product selling prices, which supports continued investment in multiple conversion pathways. Ultimately, this work demonstrates a clear need to leverage integrated modeling platforms to advance microalgae biofuel systems as a whole, and specific recommendations are made for the prioritization of research and development pathways to achieve economical biofuel production from microalgae.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1484430

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5100-72869

Journal Information:: Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 52, Issue 22; ISSN 0013-936X

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 23 works

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