Avaliação de rotas tecnológicas da indústria de microalgas para obtenção de emissões líquidas zero

• Ano de defesa: 2024
• Autor(a) principal: Dias, Rosangela Rodrigues
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; Brasil; Ciência e Tecnologia dos Alimentos; UFSM; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia dos Alimentos; Centro de Ciências Rurais
• Palavras-chave em Português: Algas; Produtos de base biológica; Bioeconomia; Análise de ciclo de vida; Sustentabilidade ambiental; Algae; Bio-based products; Bioeconomy; Life cycle analysis; Environmental sustainability; CNPQ::CIENCIAS AGRARIAS::CIENCIA E TECNOLOGIA DE ALIMENTOS
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.ufsm.br/handle/1/33549

The industrial relevance of microalgae as production systems for food and non-food feedstocks is increasing. However, it is noteworthy that the sustainability of microalgae-based processes and products remains questionable. Given this, with the resilience of microalgae-based products as the main motivation, the research focused on scrutinizing the environmental sustainability of the most important commercial microalgae-based products by integrating clean and renewable energy into the upstream and downstream processes. The core of the research is to evaluate the technological routes of the microalgae industry to achieve significantly lower emissions. The results demonstrate that replacing high-emission energy sources with low-emission sources in microalgae facilities is the backbone for achieving climate-neutral operations. The transition from internal combustion road transport to electric transport powered by clean and renewable energy is also the answer to building a net-zero emissions delivery route. Our findings indicate that it would be pertinent for suitable locations for microalgae biotechnology development also to be promising for establishing renewable energy systems or, ultimately, strategically located near clean and renewable energy generation plants. Conclusively, the research findings represent a step on the path to achieving net-zero climate impact for microalgae-based products, followed by the aspiration to make them climate-positive thereafter.