Bioeconomic Assessment of Microalgal Production

Today, microalgae play an important role for the worldwide biofuel demand, together with the production of high value-added products used in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic industries. In 2014, the European Union adopted a strategy for developing the bioeconomy, by utilizing microalgae which represent an emerging biological resource of great importance for its potential applications in different fields. Huge potential of tiny microalgae could support a microalgae-based biorefinery and microalgae-based bioeconomy opening up vast opportunities in the global algae business. Nevertheless, in spite of having been studied for over 50 years now, there are still only just a few corporations that are cultivating algae on a large or commercial scale due to operational and capital cost. Techno-economic modeling is a powerful tool for guiding research priorities and assessing the economics, environmental impact and sustainability of microalgal productions. In this chapter, microalgal productions are assessed within bioeconomical aspects and case-studies on microalgal biorefinery are discussed