Carbon Audit and Discussion for Lipid Extraction

The extraction process involves the separation and purification of lipids from the dewatered biomass. The extraction technology investigated in this study is solvent extraction, involving lipid extraction as well as ethanol and lipid purification with a two-phase system of hexane and water. The only energy inputs for the extraction stage are the mixing and pumping requirements. Emissions from the mixing and pumping requirements are all Scope 2. The emissions due to mixing (1,127.28 tonnes of CO2-e/year) are significantly larger than the emissions due to pumping (87.53 tonnes of CO2-e/year). Mixing emissions account for 92.7% of the emission from the extraction phase due to large mixing and retention times during solvent extraction. The dewatered biomass volume and concentration are consistent for all three cultivation systems (HTR, ELR and RP), thus the emissions due to the extrac­tion of lipids from biomass generated from any of the cultivation systems are the same. This is 1,214.81 tonnes of CO2-e/year.