Process economics and greenhouse gas audit for microalgal biodiesel production

Abstract

With the current global drive towards a low-emission economy, countries need to take a stance. For example, Australia, which is one of the world's largest polluters, has made a commitment that before 2020 its overall emissions would be reduced by 5-15% below the levels registered in the year 2000. To realise these targets, processes which capture carbon dioxide will prove critically important. One of such emerging processes is carbon dioxide capture for microalgae cultivation and subsequent downstream biomass processing for biodiesel production. This chapter will entail engineering scale-up, economic analysis and carbon audit to ascertain the viability of an industrial scale microalgal biodiesel production plant. This will involve the development of an industrial scale model to determine the feasibility of a real large-scale plant. Data from each process step (cultivation, dewatering, lipid extraction and biodiesel synthesis) will be presented individually and integrated into the overall process framework.