Life cycle assessment of microalgal biorefinery: A state-of-the-art review

Aristotle T Ubando; Earle Anderson S Ng; Wei-Hsin Chen; Alvin B Culaba; Eilhann E Kwon

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127615

Life cycle assessment of microalgal biorefinery: A state-of-the-art review

Bioresour Technol. 2022 Sep:360:127615. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127615. Epub 2022 Jul 15.

Authors

Aristotle T Ubando¹, Earle Anderson S Ng², Wei-Hsin Chen³, Alvin B Culaba⁴, Eilhann E Kwon⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, 0922 Manila, Philippines; Center for Engineering and Sustainable Development Research, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, 0922 Manila, Philippines; Thermomechanical Laboratory, De La Salle University, Laguna Campus, LTI Spine Road, Laguna Blvd, Biñan, Laguna 4024, Philippines.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, 0922 Manila, Philippines.
³ Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan; Research Center for Smart Sustainable Circular Economy, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan; Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung 411, Taiwan. Electronic address: weihsinchen@gmail.com.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, 0922 Manila, Philippines; Center for Engineering and Sustainable Development Research, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, 0922 Manila, Philippines.
⁵ Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 35840032
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127615

Abstract

Microalgal biorefineries represent an opportunity to economically and environmentally justify the production of bioproducts. The generation of bioproducts within a biorefinery system must quantitatively demonstrate its viability in displacing traditional fossil-based refineries. To this end, several works have conducted life cycle analyses on microalgal biorefineries and have shown technological bottlenecks due to energy-intensive processes. This state-of-the-art review covers different studies that examined microalgal biorefineries through life cycle assessments and has identified strategic technologies for the sustainable production of microalgal biofuels through biorefineries. Different metrics were introduced to supplement life cycle assessment studies for the sustainable production of microalgal biofuel. Challenges in the comparison of various life cycle assessment studies were identified, and the future design choices for microalgal biorefineries were established.

Keywords: Biofuels; Biomass valorization; Biorefinery; Life cycle analysis; Microalgae; life cycle assessment (LCA).

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Biofuels
Biomass
Biotechnology
Life Cycle Stages
Microalgae*

Substances

Biofuels