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Recent Achievements in the Production of Biogas from Microalgae

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Abstract

Microalgae are nowadays regarded as a potential biomass feedstock to help reducing our dependence on fossil fuels for transportation, electricity and heat generation. Besides, microalgae have been widely investigated as a source of chemicals, cosmetics and health products, as well as animal and human feed. Among the cutting-edge applications of microalgae biomass, anaerobic digestion has shown promising results in terms of (bio)methane production. The interest of this process lies on its potential integration within the microalgae biorefinery concept, providing on the one hand a source of bioenergy, and on the other hand nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and CO2) and water for microalgae cultivation. This article reports the main findings in the field, highlighting the options to increase the (bio)methane production of microalgae (i.e. pretreatment and co-digestion) and bottlenecks of the technology. Finally, energy, economic and environmental aspects are considered.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Source: Passos et al. [28]

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Abbreviations

BMP:

Biochemical methane potential

CHP:

Combined heat and power

CH4 :

Methane

C/N:

Carbon/nitrogen

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

Ei :

Energy input

Eo :

Energy output

HRT:

Hydraulic retention time

LCA:

Life cycle assessment

LCC:

Life cycle costing

LCFA:

Long chain fatty acids

OLR:

Organic loading rate

SEM:

Scanning electronic microscope

TEM:

Transmission electronic microscope

VS:

Volatile solids

VFA:

Volatile fatty acids

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Acknowledgments

Authors want to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) for financial support to this project (CTQ2014-57293-C3-3-R). Fabiana Passos appreciates her Post-Doctorate scholarship funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) from the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. Marianna Garfí is grateful to Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain) (Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008-2011, Subprograma Juan de la Cierva (JDC) 2012). Enrica Uggetti is grateful to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for her scholarship (IJCI-2014-21594).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GEMMA - Environmental Engineering and Microbiology Research Group, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya·BarcelonaTech, c/Jordi Girona 1-3, Building D1, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Enrica Uggetti, Fabiana Passos, Maria Solé, Marianna Garfí & Ivet Ferrer

  2. Environmental and Chemical Technology Group, Department of Chemistry, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, 35400-000, Brazil

    Fabiana Passos

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  1. Enrica Uggetti
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  2. Fabiana Passos
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  4. Marianna Garfí
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  5. Ivet Ferrer
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Correspondence to Enrica Uggetti.

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Uggetti, E., Passos, F., Solé, M. et al. Recent Achievements in the Production of Biogas from Microalgae. Waste Biomass Valor 8, 129–139 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-016-9604-3

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