Life cycle assessment of microalgal biorefinery: A state-of-the-art review

• Published in: Bioresource technology 2022-09, Vol.360, p.127615-127615, Article 127615
• Main Authors: Ubando, Aristotle T., Anderson S. Ng, Earle, Chen, Wei-Hsin, Culaba, Alvin B., Kwon, Eilhann E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biofuels; Biomass valorization; Biorefinery; Life cycle analysis; life cycle assessment (LCA); Microalgae
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127615

[Display omitted] •Microalgal biorefineries enable the co-production of bioenergy and bio-products.•LCA is employed to assess the environmental impact of the biorefinery supply chain.•Strategic technologies in microalgal biorefinery are needed for biofuel sustainability.•Green technologies in biorefineries lessen GHG emissions and enhance profits.•Microalgal biorefinery configurations is found to adhere to a circular bioeconomy. Microalgal biorefineries represent an opportunity to economically and environmentally justify the production of bioproducts. The generation of bioproducts within a biorefinery system must quantitatively demonstrate its viability in displacing traditional fossil-based refineries. To this end, several works have conducted life cycle analyses on microalgal biorefineries and have shown technological bottlenecks due to energy-intensive processes. This state-of-the-art review covers different studies that examined microalgal biorefineries through life cycle assessments and has identified strategic technologies for the sustainable production of microalgal biofuels through biorefineries. Different metrics were introduced to supplement life cycle assessment studies for the sustainable production of microalgal biofuel. Challenges in the comparison of various life cycle assessment studies were identified, and the future design choices for microalgal biorefineries were established.