Techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate
Abstract Fish as the primary source for the essential n − 3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) cannot cover the global demand for these important nutrients resulting in a supply gap of currently 1.1 million tons of EPA + DHA annually. A further exploitation of nat...
Published in: | Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy |
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2021
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crspringernat:10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x 2023-05-15T15:33:04+02:00 Techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate Schade, S. Meier, T. Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy ISSN 1618-954X 1618-9558 Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Environmental Chemistry Environmental Engineering General Business, Management and Accounting Economics and Econometrics journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x 2022-01-04T15:34:11Z Abstract Fish as the primary source for the essential n − 3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) cannot cover the global demand for these important nutrients resulting in a supply gap of currently 1.1 million tons of EPA + DHA annually. A further exploitation of natural fish stocks is linked to great damage to ecosystems. Oleaginous microalgae are a natural source for EPA and DHA and could possibly contribute to closing this gap. The cultivation in photobioreactors (PBR) in a ‘cold-weather’ climate showed that microalgae compare favorably to aquaculture fish. The present study assesses the economic potential of microalgae for food in such system model. Techno-economic assessment was conducted on the basis of a dynamic system model for the cultivation of Nannochloropsis sp. in industrial scale in Central Germany over a time span of 30 years. The net present value (NPV) and return-on-investment (ROI) were obtained for a number of scenarios in which technic and economic parameters were altered. Taking the size of the PBR considered into account, the cultivation of Nannochloropsis sp. yielded a positive NPV of EUR 4.5 million after 30 years which translates to an annualized ROI of 1.87%. The sensitivity analysis overall resulted in annualized ROIs between 1.12 and 2.47%. Major expenditures comprised the PBR infrastructure, maintenance and labor cost. An extended cultivation season by four weeks was responsible for an NPV surplus of almost one third (32%). An increase in the selling price by 15% was responsible for a 47% higher NPV. In comparison with Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) raised in aquaculture, EPA from Nannochloropsis sp . resulted in about halved cultivation costs (− 44 to − 60%). In this study we could show that microalgae from photoautotrophic cultivation not only have the potential to supply humans with essential nutrients, but they are also a lucrative investment, even in a ‘cold-weather’ climate where cultivation cannot take place year round. Graphic abstract Article in Journal/Newspaper Atlantic salmon Salmo salar Springer Nature (via Crossref) Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy 23 5 1475 1492 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Environmental Chemistry Environmental Engineering General Business, Management and Accounting Economics and Econometrics |
spellingShingle |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Environmental Chemistry Environmental Engineering General Business, Management and Accounting Economics and Econometrics Schade, S. Meier, T. Techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate |
topic_facet |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Environmental Chemistry Environmental Engineering General Business, Management and Accounting Economics and Econometrics |
description |
Abstract Fish as the primary source for the essential n − 3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) cannot cover the global demand for these important nutrients resulting in a supply gap of currently 1.1 million tons of EPA + DHA annually. A further exploitation of natural fish stocks is linked to great damage to ecosystems. Oleaginous microalgae are a natural source for EPA and DHA and could possibly contribute to closing this gap. The cultivation in photobioreactors (PBR) in a ‘cold-weather’ climate showed that microalgae compare favorably to aquaculture fish. The present study assesses the economic potential of microalgae for food in such system model. Techno-economic assessment was conducted on the basis of a dynamic system model for the cultivation of Nannochloropsis sp. in industrial scale in Central Germany over a time span of 30 years. The net present value (NPV) and return-on-investment (ROI) were obtained for a number of scenarios in which technic and economic parameters were altered. Taking the size of the PBR considered into account, the cultivation of Nannochloropsis sp. yielded a positive NPV of EUR 4.5 million after 30 years which translates to an annualized ROI of 1.87%. The sensitivity analysis overall resulted in annualized ROIs between 1.12 and 2.47%. Major expenditures comprised the PBR infrastructure, maintenance and labor cost. An extended cultivation season by four weeks was responsible for an NPV surplus of almost one third (32%). An increase in the selling price by 15% was responsible for a 47% higher NPV. In comparison with Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) raised in aquaculture, EPA from Nannochloropsis sp . resulted in about halved cultivation costs (− 44 to − 60%). In this study we could show that microalgae from photoautotrophic cultivation not only have the potential to supply humans with essential nutrients, but they are also a lucrative investment, even in a ‘cold-weather’ climate where cultivation cannot take place year round. Graphic abstract |
author2 |
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schade, S. Meier, T. |
author_facet |
Schade, S. Meier, T. |
author_sort |
Schade, S. |
title |
Techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate |
title_short |
Techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate |
title_full |
Techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate |
title_fullStr |
Techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate |
title_full_unstemmed |
Techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate |
title_sort |
techno-economic assessment of microalgae cultivation in a tubular photobioreactor for food in a humid continental climate |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x/fulltext.html |
genre |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
op_source |
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy ISSN 1618-954X 1618-9558 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02042-x |
container_title |
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy |
container_volume |
23 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1475 |
op_container_end_page |
1492 |
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1766363539371458560 |