Advancements in Microalgal Biorefinery Technologies and Their Economic Analysis and Positioning in Energy Resource Market
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors provided a comprehensive review of the current development of microalgae-derived bio-fuels, from the technical details of the methodology to the actual economic analysis to assess the potential feasibility. The authors did a in-depth summary of each aspect of the micro-algal biofuels including the both the technology-wise and market-wise strategies to overcome key limitations regarding the current unfavorable production process.
Author Response
Response 1: Authors are grateful to the reviewer for pointing out the mistakes and for the valuable suggestions. We considered all the current comments and incorporated in the revised manuscript.
Point 2: The authors provided a comprehensive review of the current development of microalgae-derived bio-fuels, from the technical details of the methodology to the actual economic analysis to assess the potential feasibility. The authors did an in-depth summary of each aspect of the micro-algal biofuels including the both the technology-wise and market-wise strategies to overcome key limitations regarding the current unfavourable production process.
Response 2: The authors are very grateful to the reviewer for such insightful comments and valuable suggestions. As per the reviewer’s suggestions, the authors have carefully checked the english and grammar of the manuscript and the changes are included in the revised manuscript.
Reviewer 2 Report
Introduction
1. Please cut short and include CAGR datasets in the first paragraph itself with algal market statistics. Otherwise, it breaks the flow.
2. No publication was cited for TEA and LCA. There are some excellent publications please cite them
a. doi:10.1016/j.cej.2021.129413
b. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155742
3. Please include the following publication to further add the companies and their bioproducts
Paliwal, C., Nesamma, A. A., & Jutur, P. P. (2019). Industrial scope with high-value biomolecules from microalgae. In Sustainable Downstream Processing of Microalgae for Industrial Application (pp. 83-98). CRC Press.
4. Please include the following patent which has used solar technology for the cost-effective algal biorefinery
Ghosh, P. K., Mishra, S. C. P., Maiti, S., Paliwal, C., Mishra, S. K., Ghosh, T., ... & Bharadia, J. N. (2015). U.S. Patent Application No. 14/389,824.
Author Response
Response 1: Authors are grateful to the reviewer for pointing out the mistakes and for the valuable suggestions. We considered all the current comments and incorporated in the revised manuscript.
Point 2: Introduction; Please cut short and include CAGR datasets in the first paragraph itself with algal market statistics. Otherwise, it breaks the flow.
Response 2: The authors are very grateful to the reviewer for their valuable comments and suggestions. According to the suggestion, the introduction has been cut short and CAGR datasets with algal market statistics are included in the paragraph of the revised manuscript. The following changes are made in the revised manuscript: The algal market has an estimated growth rate of 8.16 B in the 10-year forecast period (2021-2030) with 8.76% CAGR in next 8 years [3]. In recent research, it has been estimated that Europe would be the second largest share in the global biorefinery market and Germany be the largest investor for the prediction period of 2022 to 2027 [2]. In the coming years, microalgal market will have a stable growth and there will be increase in demand of the feed and cosmetic industry on the global scale [4].
Point 3: No publication was cited for TEA and LCA. There are some excellent publications please cite them
- doi:10.1016/j.cej.2021.129413
- doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155742
Response 3: As per the suggestion, the mentioned citations and publications for TEA and LCA are also included in the revised manuscript.
Point 4:Please include the following publication to further add the companies and their bioproducts
Paliwal, C., Nesamma, A. A., & Jutur, P. P. (2019). Industrial scope with high-value biomolecules from microalgae. In Sustainable Downstream Processing of Microalgae for Industrial Application (pp. 83-98). CRC Press.
Response 4: The authors have included the above study in the manuscript in the section: Microalgal Biorefinery Products as for the industrial scale, microalgae is considered as a promising feedstock for the production of biofuels, carotenoids, polysaccharides, phycobiliproteins. Therefore, significant technologies and engineering of the strains is the new trend for the upscaling of the by-products at industrial scale [18].
Point 5: Please include the following patent which has used solar technology for the cost-effective algal biorefinery
Ghosh, P. K., Mishra, S. C. P., Maiti, S., Paliwal, C., Mishra, S. K., Ghosh, T., ... & Bharadia, J. N. (2015). U.S. Patent Application No. 14/389,824.
Response 5: According to the suggestion of the reviewer, the authors have cited the patent in the revised manuscript as In a recent study, solar energy was used for the production of microalgal biodiesel. In this study, solar energy was utilized for heating and chilling operations in the process of extraction and solvent recovery which further minimized the carbon footprint and reduced the overall energy cost [30].
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript can be accepted
Author Response
Response 1: Authors are grateful to the reviewer for their valuable feedback.
Point 2: The manuscript can be accepted
Response 2: The authors are very grateful to the reviewer for their insightful suggestion and valuable feedback.
