A perspective on gaseous biofuel production from micro-algae generated from CO2 from a coal-fired power plant

Amita Jacob, Ao Xia and Jerry D. Murphy

Applied Energy, 2015, vol. 148, issue C, 396-402

Abstract: There are significant resources of coal on the planet. It is likely that a lot of this coal will be combusted. A 1GWe coal power plant operating at 35% electrical efficiency and a capacity factor of 75% produces 6.77 million tonnes of CO2 per annum. A closed cultivation system with a carbon capture efficiency of 80% allows production of 2.69Mt of micro-algal (volatile solids), in a foot print of 19,200ha for a tubular photo-bioreactor (PBR) and 34,000ha for a Flat Plate PBR. An open system (raceway pond) at a carbon capture efficiency of 50% produces 1.68Mt of micro-algal (volatile solids) and requires a footprint of 52,303ha. Employing a three stage sequential process (combining dark fermentation, photo fermentation and anaerobic digestion) to produce bio-hydrogen and bio-methane from the micro-algae could potentially generate 35% of the primary energy in the coal in the form of renewable gaseous fuel if a closed system of cultivation is used. This is sufficient to fuel 600,000 cars per annum. In the cultivation of micro-algae, pumping and circulation is a considerable parasitic energy demand. The ratio of energy output (gaseous biofuel) to energy input (pumping and circulation) is less than 1 for all the three cultivation systems assessed, ranging from 0.71 for raceway ponds to 0.05 for a tubular PBR. If coal powered electricity is the source of this parasitic energy then a tubular PBR system produces more CO2 than the CO2 captured by the micro-algae.

Keywords: Coal; Gaseous biofuel; Micro-algae; CO2 fixation; Bio-hydrogen; Bio-methane (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.03.077

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