(40b) An Attempt to Scale-up a Biodiesel Production Plant from a Microalgae Heterotrophic Culture - Economic Feasibility and Future Industrial Potential

The aim of this work is to make a first attempt to scale-up a biodiesel production plant from a heterotrophic culture of microalgae and evaluate its future economical feasability. The plant employs the microalgae Chlorella protothecoides to obtain biomass and the later oil extraction will be done with supercritical carbon dioxide. Based on studies found in literature it was possible to design a process, making the mass and energy balances and the equipment design of the main process. A non-conservative study reveals the no feasability of the plant unless the residues would be sold. Depending on their future use, two different and real residues prizes were chosen, proving an investment recover for both cases. Making a conservative study, a non-viable plant even selling residues is showed, mainly due to the big quantity of bioreactors needed and the oil losses in the different steps. An alternative process in which the previous losses are negligible was applied, being viable only if the residues are selling at the highest prize. All this results highlight the future possibilities and potential of a plant with these characteristics in the future energetic context.