Microalgae to biofuels: Life cycle impacts of methane production of anaerobically digested lipid extracted algae

This study presents experimental measurements of the biochemical methane production for whole and lipid extracted Nannochloropsis salina. Results show whole microalgae produced 430 cm3-CH4 g-volatile solids−1 (g-VS) (σ = 60), 3 times more methane than was produced by the LEA, 140 cm3-CH4 g-VS−1 (σ = 30). Results illustrate current anaerobic modeling efforts in microalgae to biofuel assessments are not reflecting the impact of lipid removal. On a systems level, the overestimation of methane production is shown to positively skew the environmental impact of the microalgae to biofuels process. Discussion focuses on a comparison results to those of previous anaerobic digestion studies and quantifies the corresponding change in greenhouse gas emissions of the microalgae to biofuels process based on results from this study.