Geographical Assessment of Microalgae Biofuels Potential Incorporating Resource Availability
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Geographical Assessment of Microalgae Biofuels Potential Incorporating Resource Availability Jason C. Quinn & Kimberly B. Catton & Sara Johnson & Thomas H. Bradley
Published online: 20 November 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012
Abstract Previous assessments of the economic feasibility and large-scale productivity of microalgae biofuels have not considered the impacts of land and carbon dioxide (CO2) availability on the scalability of microalgae-based biofuels production. To accurately assess the near-term productivity potential of large-scale microalgae biofuel in the USA, a geographically realized growth model was used to simulate microalgae lipid yields based on meteorological data. The resulting lipid productivity potential of Nannochloropsis under large-scale cultivation is combined with land and CO2 resource availability illustrating current geographically feasible production sites and corresponding productivity in the USA. Baseline results show that CO2 transport constraints will limit US microalgae-based bio-oil production to 4 % of the 2030 Department of Energy (DOE) alternative fuel goal. The discussion focuses on synthesis of this largescale productivity potential results including a sensitivity analysis to land and CO2 resource assumptions, an evaluation of previous modeling efforts, and their assumptions
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12155-012-9277-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. J. C. Quinn (*) Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Utah State University, 4130 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, USA e-mail: [email protected] K. B. Catton Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA S. Johnson Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA T. H. Bradley Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
regarding the transportation of CO2, the feasibility of microalgae to meet DOE 2030 alternative fuel goals, and a comparison of the productivity potential in several key regions of the USA. Keywords Biofuels . GIS . Microalgae . Model . Carbon dioxide Abbreviations bbl Barrel CO2 Carbon dioxide DOE Department of energy GIS Geospatial information system
Introduction The current instability of global oil prices has motivated researchers and entrepreneurs to search for alternative sources of transportation fuel and energy [1]. In addition, the increase in the average global temperature due to greenhouse gas emissions has renewed interest in biofuels for use in transportation vehicles [2–4]. Compared to traditional terrestrial biofuel feedstock, microalgae are characterized by higher solar energy yield, year-round cultivation, the use of lower quality or brackish water, the ability to utilize waste CO2, and the use of less- and lower quality land [5–8]. Microalgae feedstock cultivation can be integrated with large-scale CO2 generating processes (e.g., combustion power plants,
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