Assessing the environmental footprint of microalgae biofuel production: A comparative analysis of cultivation and harvesting scenarios

This study investigated the impact of fixed combinations of three flocculants and four buoy-beads under two cultivation systems on the harvesting efficiency, as well as the environmental performance in different scenarios. Results showed that the harvesting efficiency exhibited a tendency of initially increasing and then decreasing with rising concentrations of buoy-beads and flocculants, with an optimal harvesting efficiency of 98.03 %. Life cycle assessment (LCA) compared the environmental performance of five scenarios. Ecotoxicity Soil Chronic (ESC) and Aquatic Eutrophication EP(P) (AEP(P)) were major environmental impacts. The scenario employing re-frying oil emulsion (RFOE) and aluminum sulfate flocculation (R+A) contributed significantly to Human Toxicity Water (HTW) and Aquatic Eutrophication EP(N) (AEP(N)) with normalized values of 0.0137 and 0.0147, respectively. In the assessment of Global Warming Potential (GWP), R+A was responsible for a high amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions (2.826 kg CO₂ eq/100 g of dry algal biomass in photobioreactor (PBR) and 2.917 kg CO₂ eq/ 100 g of dry algal biomass in open raceway ponds (ORP)). Notably, sodium alginate microspheres (SAMs) and aluminum sulfate flocculation (S+A) was considered a more environmentally favorable option, 0.773 kg CO₂ eq and 0.864 kg CO₂ eq GHG emissions of PBR and ORP, respectively. Furthermore, the less GHG emissions of PBR than ORP, making it a more effective solution for reducing emissions and mitigating global warming trends.