Techno-Economic Analysis of Biofuel Production from Macroalgae (Seaweed)
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methods
2.1. Data Sources, Calculation Methods, Scenarios, and Cost Analysis
2.2. Hatchery and Grow out Systems
2.3. Drying Systems
2.4. Transportation Systems
2.5. Conversion Systems
- AD (anaerobic digestion) integrated with the CHP system: Biogas produced in an AD is burned in a CHP system to produce electricity. The waste product (digestate) from AD was used as fertilizer.
- Ethanol production through fermentation: Ethanol is the main product in this method, and fermentation by-products are used as animal feed, digestate, or electricity production, based on the selected process method. Fermentation residuals can be converted into animal feed or can be digested to produce biogas and thus electricity. Specifically, the by-products in this method were animal feed or electricity and digestate as bio fertilizer, or the combination of these three products. According to [5], the rate of animal feed per liter of ethanol production is 1.21 kg. The amount of digestate production in residual fermentation followed by AD was equal to the amount of fresh seaweed fermentation in AD, but electricity production was reduced to 64% compared to scenario 1 (based on [10]).
2.5.1. Fermentation
2.5.2. Anaerobic Digestion (AD)
2.6. Techno-Economic Analysis
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Breakeven Price
3.2. Economic Analysis of the Production (Supply) Chain
- Establish processing facilities and equipment in the closest location to the beach/water as possible; this will minimize the cost of transportation. Also, some of the seaweed can be consumed in fresh form in AD or fermentation (i.e., during the harvest season) without the need to dry and store the seaweed. Taking into account no transportation between the shoreline and the conversion equipment, and use of 25% of fresh seaweed, the BFESP and BESP can be reduced to approximately 1.17 ($/L) and 0.23 ($/kW-h), respectively.
- Reduce production costs. As shown in Figure 2, the most dominant costs in the production chain are labor and energy inputs. So, with better management of cost components, the BESP and BFESP can be reduced. Considering the previous suggestion (establishment of integrated facilities near the shore) and by decreasing the labor cost by 20 and 30 percent, the BFESP can be decreased to 1.02 and 0.95 ($/L), respectively, and also BESP can be reduced to 0.16 ($/kW-h) and 0.15 ($/kW-h), respectively.
- Increase productivity per unit area. The seaweed production yield in this study was only 5.25 and 2.7 (dry t/ha), respectively, for longline and grid farms; however, the average global yield of seaweed can range from 12 to 60 (dry t/ha) [17].
- Extend the production scale. As shown in Figure 3, by increasing the production scale, costs can be pro-rated, and BESP and BFESP will be decreased.
3.3. Effect of Scale on Overall Cost
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Scenario | Farm Method | Conversion Method | By-Products | Final Product | Breakeven Selling Price of Final Product | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Longline | Fermentation | Animal feed | Ethanol | 1.87 ($/L) | |
2 | Grid | Fermentation | Animal feed | Ethanol | 1.93 ($/L) | |
3 * | Longline | Fermentation | Electricity | Digestate | Ethanol | 1.55 ($/L) |
4 | Grid | Fermentation | Electricity | Digestate | Ethanol | 1.61 ($/L) |
5 * | Longline | AD | Digestate | Electricity | 0.23 ($/kW-h) | |
6 | Grid | AD | Digestate | Electricity | 0.24 ($/kW-h) |
Percent of Residuals Used for Animal Food | 100 | 90 | 80 | 70 | 60 | 50 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BFESP ($/L) | 1.87 | 1.85 | 1.83 | 1.81 | 1.79 | 1.76 | 1.74 | 1.71 | 1.68 | 1.65 |
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Soleymani, M.; Rosentrater, K.A. Techno-Economic Analysis of Biofuel Production from Macroalgae (Seaweed). Bioengineering 2017, 4, 92. https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering4040092
Soleymani M, Rosentrater KA. Techno-Economic Analysis of Biofuel Production from Macroalgae (Seaweed). Bioengineering. 2017; 4(4):92. https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering4040092
Chicago/Turabian StyleSoleymani, Mohsen, and Kurt A. Rosentrater. 2017. "Techno-Economic Analysis of Biofuel Production from Macroalgae (Seaweed)" Bioengineering 4, no. 4: 92. https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering4040092