Life Cycle Assessment of Third Generation Biofuels Production.

This paper provides an environmental assessment using LCA methodology for the production of biodiesel from microalgae. The life cycle stages evaluated were: production of biodiesel and distribution and use. The biodiesel plant was simulated on Aspen Plus (R) 2006.5 using as raw materials Chorella vulgaris microalgae oil and methanol. The Impact Assessment was made using SIMAPRO 7.1 software and ECOINVENT database, the impact categories evaluated were: climatic change (CCI), acidification (AI), eutrophication (EI), photochemical smog formation (POI), respiratory effects (REI) and non-renewable energy (NRE). The LCA methodology was applied following the procedures established by the ISO 14040 and 14044 (2006). According to the environmental profiles obtained, the stage of distribution and use of the B10 blend (10% biodiesel) has the greatest influence in the impact categories studied. This work was supported by the Ibero-American Program on Science and Technology for Development (CYTED) project 306RTO279 "New technologies for biofuels production" UNESCO codes 330303, 332205, 530603, 330999 and the Colombian Department of Science, Technology and Innovation COLCIENCIAS, projects CT 475-2007 and CT 272-2008.)