Development of an optimization model for the microalgal biofuel supply chain considering CO2 emission, land use and water consumption

• Main Author: Chua, Marjorie Tan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Subjects: Algal biofuels > Environmental aspects; Chemical Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/5520
• Institution: De La Salle University

The issue on the decreasing amount of fossil fuels and climate change led to the increase in interest on biofuel production. One of the potential sources of biofuel today is microalgae. Optimization in producing microalgal biofuel with environmental constraints is being conducted in order to contribute in lessening the threat of climate change in our world today. Through conducting Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), it would be possible to identify the water and carbon footprint of a certain process.This research paper primarily focused in determining the optimum path and model development in producing microalgal biofuel with three environmental constraints to be considered. These factors are land usage, carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, and water consumption. The microalgae species that was used as a basis in conducting the study was Chlorella vulgaris. This study involved five steps in producing microalgal biofuel, which are cultivation, harvesting, drying, extraction, and tranesterification. Through this study, the different combinations of the technologies for each step in the supply chain were identified through using Microsoft Excel as the software.From this research, it was found that in order to minimize water and land footprint, the following path should be used: open pond-natural settling + centrifugation+ belt drying+ Bligh and Dyer + enzymatic transesterification. The minimum water that was used up in this process is 9.30x107 m3, while the land usage was approximately 3.48*103 square meter. The same path holds true for carbon dioxide minimization. The minimum amount of CO2 that was emitted using this path is 1.65x104 kg. The basis for these values is 100kg of FAME that was produced.