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Construction and Setup of a Bench-scale Algal Photosynthetic Bioreactor with Temperature, Light, and pH Monitoring for Kinetic Growth Tests
Published on: June 14, 2017
Competitive algae biodiesel depends on advances in mass algae cultivation
Josef Maroušek1, Anna Maroušková2, Beata Gavurová3
1Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, Faculty of Technology, Okružní 517/10, České Budějovice 370 01, Czech Republic; University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Agriculture, Studentská 1668, České Budějovice 370 05, Czech Republic.
Abstract:
The aim of this review was to study why, despite large investments in research and development, algae biodiesel is still not price competitive with fossil fuels. Microalgal production was confirmed to be a critical cost item (84 up to 93 %) for biodiesel regardless of the production technology. Techno-economic assessment revealed the main cost drivers during mass cultivation. It is argued that a breakthrough in the cultivation efficiency of microalgae is identified as a necessary condition for achieving price-competitive microalgal biodiesel. The key bottlenecks were identified as follows: (1) light and O2 concentration management; (2) overnight respiratory loss of oil. It is concluded that most of the research on microalgae biodiesel yields economically over-optimistic presumptions because it has been based on laboratory scale experiments with a low level of interdisciplinary overlap.
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