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Multi-Criteria Analysis of Microalgae Production in Iran: Biofuels
Multi-Criteria Analysis of Microalgae Production in Iran: Biofuels
Multi-Criteria Analysis of Microalgae Production in Iran: Biofuels
To cite this article: Mohammad Hadi Katooli, Alireza Aslani, Fatemeh Razi Astaraee, Tania
Mazzuca Sobczuk & Asieh Bakhtiar (2019): Multi-criteria analysis of microalgae production in Iran,
Biofuels, DOI: 10.1080/17597269.2018.1542566
Figure 1. The analytic hierarchy process decision structure to assess potential sites for the cultivation of microalgae.
Characteristics of microalgae very important to select the right place for algae cultiva-
tion. The main criteria in selecting a place to produce and
Microalgae are currently being promoted as an ideal third-
cultivate algae are land, climate, water and nutrients, and
generation biofuel feedstock because of their biological and
the existing infrastructure needed to cultivate algae.
technical characteristics. Algae are more efficient in absorption
and use of sunlight than land plants [7]. They consume harm-
ful pollutants and Algae need fewer sources to grow. Algae
do not compete with human food sources and their use in Land
the production of biofuels will not have any adverse effect on
food supplies. The growth rate of algae is high and almost 10 The land criterion consists of the following sub-criteria: use
to 50 grams of algae is extracted per square meter every day of land, slope, size of land to build a place to produce
[8]. Algae have a much shorter growing period compared algae, land ownership, land price and soil features [11]. The
with first-generation resources such as corn and soybeans, as use of land and the slope are the most important criteria.
they reach their maximum growth rate after 24 hours and Bravo-Fritzet al. [12] considered the best place for algae
double every 3.5 hours [9]. farming in Chile to be locations with a slope of less than
Table 1 shows the amount of oil extracted and the 5%. National reserves, protected areas and wetlands are
amount of arable land required for the growth of algae and also excluded from algae cultivation sites [12, 13].
plant sources such as corn and soybeans are compared. Suitable sites for algae production are located within
10 km of coasts. It is recommended to use otherwise use-
less lands to minimize the cost. It is also recommended to
Material and methods
make a trade-off between availability of land and other
The selection of a particular algae species is one of the resources such as water and CO2, and other criteria [14].
most important parts of growing algae [10]. After that, it is The features of soil are also important for choosing the site
BIOFUELS 3
Table 1. Comparison between the amount of oil and land necessary for harvesting algae and
conventional raw materials [9].
Primary material Oil (gallons per acre per year) Necessary land (million acres)
Corn 18 2222
Soybean 48 832
Canola 127 315
Oil palm 635 63
Microalgae (10% oil) 1200 33
Microalgae (50% oil) 10000 4
to cultivate algae. Soils that have large amounts of sand Infrastructure and other criteria
are unsuitable because of high rates of percolation [15].
Infrastructure is a crucial resource for cultivating algae to
supply nutrients. Suitable sites for cultivating algae should
Climate have proper access to infrastructure such as streets, rails,
lines for transportation and electric lines [13, 24, 27].
Two important climatic factors that affect growing algae Transportation costs will also affect the final cost of pro-
are temperature and solar radiation, which were found to duced biodiesel. The farther algae cultivation sites are from
be important in all studies. Sites that are suitable to culti- pipelines or wastewater facilities, the higher are the final
vate algae must have enough sunlight because it is a major costs of the produced biodiesel. Labor force for work is
factor directly affecting the production of algae [16, 17]. another important criterion for algae production.
Iran has a high radiation rate [18]. This feature makes Iran
a very good country to produce microalgae.
Case study
A warmer climate is more suitable for algae cultivation
than a cold climate [19]. Hourly data on temperature, wind Iran presents five main candidates for cultivating microalgae,
speed, evaporation of pan, precipitation and solar radiation which have been chosen based on several papers [4, 5].
are important algae cultivation parameters [15]. A climate These areas are: Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea; Maharlu Lake
for suitable algae production has high annual solar radi- in Fars province; Urmia Lake in west Azarbaijan province;
ation and an optimum temperature range [20]. Qom Lake; and Zagros Mountain (Aleshtar in Lorestan prov-
Algae biodiesel production is highly dependent on cli- ince). The aim of this paper is to use the AHP method to
mate conditions which control the efficiency of biodiesel choose the best potential regions in Iran to cultivate microal-
production. Cold intolerance of algae is likely to produce gae. The main criteria for assessing each place are: climate,
low biomass or low amounts of lipid [21], which results in infrastructure, land, and water and natural resources. Different
low efficiency of resource use. criteria affect microalgae site selection. The main criteria in
this paper were chosen based on the criteria discussed in
similar papers [28, 29]. These criteria are subdivided into sub-
Water and nutrients criteria for further definition. Climate is subdivided into tem-
perature ( C), solar radiation (kWh/m2), precipitation, wind
The present technology consumes a considerable amount
speed and cloud cover. High potential of solar radiation in
of water in order to produce biodiesel [22]. Therefore, find- Iran [30] is a promising factor in miroalgae cultivation in Iran.
ing a way to produce biodiesel with a low amount of fresh Land is subdivided into slope, land use, elevation, land area,
water or even by using saline water is important. soil characteristics and land cost. Infrastructure is subdivided
A continual supply of water is very important for pro- into distance to power plant (km), distance to fresh water
ducing algae, and efficient recycling of water is also source (km), distance to saline water source (km), distance to
important [13]. Algae cultivation requires a high amount of road (km) and production type. Water and natural resources
water along with different nutrients, which is one of the are subdivided into facilities producing CO2, water source,
reasons for algae’s high production costs [23]. Algae can wastewater and brackish water. An AHP decision chart is
grow in fresh water, saline water, seawater, and also waste- shown in Figure 1 for choosing a suitable site for algae bio-
water [24, 25]. Transporting wastewater over long distances diesel production. The main criteria analysis scenario for rating
is not recommended [26]. each main criterion is described as follows: climate was given
In addition to geography, selection of species and con- significantly more weight compared with all of the other
verting technology will influence the usage of water main criteria. Water and natural resources was given more
strongly. Wastewater, for example from municipal, indus- weight compared with infrastructure, water and natural
trial and agricultural sources, is projected to be an excel- resources was given more weight than land, and infrastruc-
lent source for cultivating algae [14], because it contains ture was given more weight than land. The method used for
nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen. solving this scenario is the eigenvector method proposed by
4 M. H. KATOLY ET AL.
Table 5. Water and natural resources sub-criteria weight of each candidate in Iran.
Water and natural resources Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf Maharlu Lake Urmia Lake Qom Lake Zagros Mountain Total
CO2 resources 0.387 0.134 0.081 0.349 0.050 0.221
Water source 0.511 0.13 0.057 0.216 0.085 0.540
Wastewater 0.483 0.123 0.084 0.261 0.049 0.138
Brackish water 0.271 0.075 0.173 0.423 0.58 0.100
Total 0.448 0.124 0.080 0.280 0.068
The overall results of the current study show that the and Persian Gulf is the best candidate in terms of land
Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf ire the best potential cultiva- sub-criteria with a total weight of 0.314.
tion sites, with a total weight of 0.326 with respect to the Table 4 shows climate sub-criteria weight. The sub-crite-
main goal. The other candidates in order of importance ria consist of: temperature, solar radiation, precipitation,
are: Qom Lake with a weight of 0.292, Maharlu Lake with a wind speed and cloud cover. Solar radiation is given more
weight of 0.165, Urmia Lake with a weight of 0.112 and weight because of its importance, with a total weight of
Zagros Mountain with a weight of 0.105. Caspian Sea and 0.483 with respect to other climate sub-criteria. The
Persian Gulf have large amounts of water available. Also, Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf is the best candidate in terms
there are major power plants in these areas which contrib- of climate sub-criteria with a total weight of 0.430.
ute to the selection of these places for algae production. Table 5 shows water and natural resources sub-criteria
The main contributors to selecting the best areas for weight. The sub-criteria consist of: CO2 resources, water
algae production are climate and water and natural resour- source, wastewater and brackish water. Water source is
ces, which means that more weight is given to these crite- given more weight because of its importance, with a total
ria compared with other criteria. weight of 0.540 with respect to other water and natural
Table 3 shows land sub-criteria weight. The sub-criteria resources sub-criteria. The Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf is
consist of: slope, land use, elevation, land area, soil charac- the best candidate in terms of water and natural resources
teristics and land cost. Land use is given more weight sub-criteria with a total weight of 0.448.
because of its importance, with a total weight of 0.424 Table 6 shows infrastructure sub-criteria weight. The
with respect to other land sub-criteria. The Caspian Sea sub-criteria consist of: distance to power plant, distance to
6 M. H. KATOLY ET AL.
fresh water source, distance to saline water source, dis- well as the weight associated with microalgae produc-
tance to road and production type. Distance to fresh water tion areas.
source is given more weight because of its importance,
with a total weight of 0.430 with respect to other infra-
structure sub-criteria. The Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf is
Conclusion
the best candidate in terms of infrastructure sub-criteria The AHP method was used in this paper for algae site
with a total weight of 0.422. Normalized weights for all of selection in Iran to produce biofuel. Four main criteria were
the candidates are shown in Table 6. chosen for this research: land, climate, infrastructure, and
A graphical summary is shown in Figure 2 for the best water and nutrients. Candidates for site selection in Iran
algae cultivation sites in Iran in order to produce biofuel. are: Maharlu Lake, Qom Lake, Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf,
Darker areas in this figure show more suitable places to Urmia Lake and Zagros Mountain.
produce algae for biofuel production, while lighter areas in The overall results show that according to the main cri-
this figure show relatively less suitable places. teria, the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf is the best candi-
date for algae production, with a total weight of 0.326 with
respect to the main goal. The other candidates in order of
Sensitivity analysis
importance are: Qom Lake with a weight of 0.292, Maharlu
According to Aslani et al. [32], other criteria and sub-criteria Lake with a weight of 0.165, Urmia with a weight of 0.112
for determining the best place for microalgae production and Zagros Mountain with a weight of 0.105. Climate and
have been evaluated in the Middle East. While this earlier water and natural resources were given more weight for
study examined six criteria including land, carbon dioxide algae site selection because of their importance in Iran.
(supply), climate, alternative energy resources, nutrients The results of this research can help policymakers and
and process technology, in this study we have investigated scientists with better site selection in Iran in order to pro-
criteria such as land, climate, type of water and nutrients duce as much algae as possible.
and infrastructure to find the best place. The climate and
land criteria are the same in both studies.
Acknowledgment
For example, in the land criterion in the present study, we
have considered sub-criteria such as the use of land, slope, This work has been developed in the Energy Policy and Modeling
Laboratory at the University of Tehran.
and size of land to build a place to produce algae, land own-
ership, the price of land and soil characteristics. In the previ-
ous research, the factors that were considered in the land Disclosure statement
criteria are: the land price, being close to the place of con-
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
sumption, recycling, population, no threat to agriculture,
foundation and workforce. Also, in terms of climate condi-
tions in this paper, temperature, solar radiation, precipita- References
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