Abstract
This study evaluates the techno-economic feasibility of five solar-powered concepts for the production of autotrophic microorganisms for food and feed production; the main focus is on three concepts based on hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOB), which are further compared to two microalgae-related concepts. Two locations with markedly different solar conditions are considered (Finland and Morocco), in which Morocco was found to be the most economically competitive for the cultivation of microalgae in open ponds and closed systems (1.4 and 1.9 € kg–1, respectively). Biomass production by combined water electrolysis and HOB cultivation results in higher costs for all three considered concepts. Among these, the lowest production cost of 5.3 € kg–1 is associated with grid-assisted electricity use in Finland, while the highest production cost of >9.1 € kg–1 is determined for concepts using solely photovoltaics and/or photoelectrochemical technology for on-site electricity production and solar-energy conversion to H2 by water electrolysis. All assessed concepts are capital intensive. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis suggests that the production costs of HOB biomass can be lowered down to 2.1 € kg–1 by optimization of the process parameters among which volumetric productivity, electricity strategy, and electricity costs have the highest cost-saving potentials. The study reveals that continuously available electricity and H2 supply are essential for the development of a viable HOB concept due to the capital intensity of the needed technologies. In addition, volumetric productivity is the key parameter that needs to be optimized to increase the economic competitiveness of HOB production.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 33242–33252 |
| Journal | ACS Omega |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 51 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 29 Dec 2020 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support for the presented research granted by the Academy of Finland within research project OPTOBIO (decision nos. 287011 and 285972) and Academy Research Fellowship to M.L. (decision no. 321723), by the Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation and the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation through a joint research grant on “Feed and food from CO and electricity—the research and piloting of future protein production” and by the Väisälä Fund of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters to C.T. Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, Leo Ojala, and Venkatesh Balan are thanked for valuable discussions. This research was partly performed at the Micronova Nanofabrication Centre supported by Aalto University.
