Browsing by Author "Martins, A.A.A."
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- LCA: A tool to develop sustainable microalgal biorefineriesPublication . Caetano, N.S.; Corrêa, P.S.; Morais Júnior, W. G.; Mata, T.M.; Martins, A.A.A.; Branco Vieira, M.Microalgae biorefineries, similar to oil refineries, are planned to exploit and maximize the value of microalgae biomass, producing as many products as possible. The biorefinery flowsheet can take different configurations, depending on the target products and the technologies to be applied. Due to the diversity of microalgae composition and strain phenotypic plasticity, some constraints can be faced for choosing the ideal candidate species. However, there are several alternatives to explore the potentiality of a strain that can make the biorefinery economically viable, environmentally friendly, and socially acceptable. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool that allows evaluating the environmental impacts of a product, process, or system, and should be used to assess the environmental performance of a planned biorefinery. When combined with life cycle costing (LCC) evaluation and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA), LCA allows to take informed decisions on the most adequate biorefinery to implement. Nevertheless, and although many of the processes used in microalgae-based biorefineries are common to those used in other well-established industries, the biorefinery is an emerging area where usually novel technologies are required, some of them applied only on a pilot or a laboratory scale, making the available data limited or highly sensitive to variations. This chapter discusses the application of LCA to biorefineries, the potential hurdles, and limitations.