I've been read some journals about microalgae biofuel. I think it seems to be feasible in engineering view because microalgae have high content of lipids and carbohydrate. Beside that, microalgae also have high growth rate. But, I doubt its feasibility in economic view because the first investment is very high. How do you think about this? Can you give the other sources of biofuel which more economic feasible than microalgae?
Thanks anyway
Dear Valsa Remony Manoj,
Thank you for your response.
In this question, I want to ask about the economic feasibility in refining process of biofuel from microalgae. If it is feasible in refining process, it also must be feasible to use it as renewable energy.
Is it feasible to produce biofuel from microalgae? Do you know some information about rate of return microalgae biofuel production?
This is a pipe dream. A reasonable 2nd year undergraduate student should be able to work out that it cannot work. I have been telling people that for years. The response has been interesting. Some have said "Yes - I do know but my funding depends on it" but most have simply not understood what I was trying to tell them.
It has got nothing to do with refining the oil. You can make biofuel out of almost anything. It is simply that sunlight is a dilute energy source and the land area of shallow ponds required that makes the whole proposition comical. See some of my papers (Ritchie 2010, Ritchie and Larkum 2013, Ritchie 2013). All are on Research Gate.
Dear Raymond J. Ritchie,
Thank you for your response. I'm very interested with your opinion above. But I think the problem in planning biofuel plant is a little bit complex. In one side, we need to develop biofuel plant because fossil fuel deposit is limited now. But in the other side, I've read from some journals that the first investment of biofuel plant is high. It makes biofuel is less competitive than fossil fuel. Moreover, world oil price nowadays is very cheap. Based on that explanation, some journals said that the rate of return (ROR) in microalgae biofuel is slow.
Is it profitable and reasonable to build microalgae biofuel plant?
No it is not. Biofuel is a low value product. You cannot make money out of something you sell for $1 or $2 per liter grown from algae.
If you want to make money out of growing algae use them to produce a high value product like carotene or an oil that is worth a lot of money per kilogram. Food additives like beta carotene are worth thousands of dollars a kilo. Read the Borowitzka books and papers.
Dear Raymond J. Ritchie,
Thank you for your opinion. That's open my mind about economic consideration in microalgae biofuel plant.
I do agree with Dr. Ritchie. You would indeed need value added by-products from the algal biofuel design. One of my papers talks about the economic feasibility of producing biofuels from microalage (can be found in my profile on researchgate). In that paper we have discussed on the possibilities of making algae biofuels cheap by the incorporation of flue gas as CO2 source and simultaneous production of biogas via anaerobic digestion. This has proved to make the biofuels cheap but the return of investment was not calculated in this study. It is straight forward because, even though you can produce biofuels for a cheap price, it can only generate revenue and make a profitable business with the inclusion of value added by-products such as carotenes, toxins and proteins in the system
.
Yes, On the other hand, the researches of microalgae-to-biofuels projects have many contrasting results that include also the introduction of a coupled wastewater cleaning and algae manufacturing system as well as in part studies used data on a lab and small scales testing. You can find answers in book: Avagyan AB 2012-2013. Theory of Global Sustainable Development based on including of microalgae in Bio and Industrial Cycles. New Design and Building of Biological System. Amazon. ISBN-13: 978-1484000335, ISBN-10: 1484000331, ASIN: B00A7BIV9O and some answers in article: Avagyan AB, 2013. Theory of Global Sustainable Development Based on Microalgae in Bio and Industrial Cycles, Management-Changing Decisions in Areas of Climate Change and Waste Management. Journal of Sustainable Bioenergy Systems, 2013, 3 (4), 287-298, DOI: 10.4236/jsbs.2013.34038
Dear all,
I agree with the opinions written above regarding the profitability of processes involving microalgae. Bio-oil cannot compensate the costs and you should get value from other products like carotene and valuable proteins. Unfortunately I think that a few industrial plants in the world would saturate the overall market for these valuable compounds. I have no information about the economics using genetically modified microalgae but this option has issues related to possible contaminations outside the battery limits. Only if the consumption of CO2 by microalgae will be sufficiently rewarded the economics could turn positive. But this scenario is not predictable at the moment because CO2 emissions are not penalized enough (CO2 certificates are worth only a few $/tonn).
Dear Sanjay Nagarajan, thank you for your opinion. I am interesting with your paper above. Can I get link to your paper, please?
Dear Armen Avagyan, thank you for give me some references. That's very helpful.
Dear Daniele Testa, thank you for your response.
Dear Denny, This is the link for my paper. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233869309_An_Updated_Comprehensive_Techno-Economic_Analysis_of_Algae_Biodiesel
Article An Updated Comprehensive Techno-Economic Analysis of Algae Biodiesel
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