Chapter 8 Energy and heat integration applied to microalgae-based systems

Microalgae culture and downstream biomass processing are exceedingly energy- intensive stages. The bottleneck inherent in developing microalgae processes on a scale is limited because of their very high cost and negative energy balance, which inevitably jeopardizes the sustainability and profitability of bioproducts. A strategy to circumvent the limitation related to the energetic problem of these systems would be to minimize the use of expensive and impacting inputs of processes that use too much energy. Energy and heat integration can provide a series of surplus flows that can be promptly recovered, distributed, and used during microalgae production in the cultivation, drying, and extraction steps. In this sense, this book chapter addresses the possibilities of energy and heat integration in microalgae-based systems. The chapter covers topics about state of the art, including energy systems, a short introduction to aspects of energy and thermodynamics, culture systems, microalgal biomass production, energy demand in microalgae-based systems, and opportunities for energy and heat integration in microalgae-based systems.