TY - JOUR
T1 - Techno-economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of an Integrated Wastewater-Derived Duckweed Biorefinery
AU - Calicioglu, Ozgul
AU - Femeena, Pandara Valappil
AU - Mutel, Christopher L.
AU - Sills, Deborah L.
AU - Richard, Tom L.
AU - Brennan, Rachel A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded in part by a scholarship from the Fulbright Foreign Student Program for the lead author (O.C.), as well as grants from the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at The Pennsylvania State University, the Northeast Regional Sun Grant Center of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2021/7/19
Y1 - 2021/7/19
N2 - Duckweeds are efficient aquatic plants for wastewater treatment due to their high nutrient uptake capabilities, growth rates, and resilience to severe environmental conditions. The high starch and cellulose contents of duckweed species make them an attractive feedstock for biofuels and biochemicals. Experimental studies have shown that sequential anaerobic bioprocessing of duckweed into ethanol, carboxylates, methane, and soil amendment in a biorefinery system is technically feasible. This study aims to identify challenges and opportunities for large-scale wastewater-derived duckweed biorefineries as a way to promote a circular bioeconomy. The most suitable end products from wastewater-derived duckweed biomass, determined in a series of previously reported laboratory batch experiments, were used to estimate the bioproduct yields during the hypothetical operation of a large-scale biorefinery. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) revealed a minimum duckweed selling price of $7.69 Mg-1 dry matter and a minimum ethanol selling price of $2.17/L or $8.23 gal-1. Duckweed pond construction and duckweed harvesting accounted for the largest share of capital (55.6%) and operating expenses (90.4%), respectively. A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) revealed that duckweed pond construction led to increased land use change impacts, but water-quality and eutrophication impacts could be significantly reduced with this integrated system through efficient nutrient upcycling.
AB - Duckweeds are efficient aquatic plants for wastewater treatment due to their high nutrient uptake capabilities, growth rates, and resilience to severe environmental conditions. The high starch and cellulose contents of duckweed species make them an attractive feedstock for biofuels and biochemicals. Experimental studies have shown that sequential anaerobic bioprocessing of duckweed into ethanol, carboxylates, methane, and soil amendment in a biorefinery system is technically feasible. This study aims to identify challenges and opportunities for large-scale wastewater-derived duckweed biorefineries as a way to promote a circular bioeconomy. The most suitable end products from wastewater-derived duckweed biomass, determined in a series of previously reported laboratory batch experiments, were used to estimate the bioproduct yields during the hypothetical operation of a large-scale biorefinery. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) revealed a minimum duckweed selling price of $7.69 Mg-1 dry matter and a minimum ethanol selling price of $2.17/L or $8.23 gal-1. Duckweed pond construction and duckweed harvesting accounted for the largest share of capital (55.6%) and operating expenses (90.4%), respectively. A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) revealed that duckweed pond construction led to increased land use change impacts, but water-quality and eutrophication impacts could be significantly reduced with this integrated system through efficient nutrient upcycling.
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U2 - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c02539
DO - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c02539
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85111216920
VL - 9
SP - 9395
EP - 9408
JO - ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
JF - ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
SN - 2168-0485
IS - 28
ER -