Very recently, two LCA studies of biodiesel production from microalgae
were proposed (Campbell et al., 2011; Stephenson et al.,
2010). In these two studies, the biomass residue remaining after
extraction and digestion ends up as a waste. To optimize the
efficiency of the full chain, all the algal biomass components should
be utilized as suggested by Wijffels and Barbosa (2010). Another
recent LCA study for the production of methane rich biogas from
microalgae was performed by Collet et al. (2011). The concept
showed possibilities to recycle the nutrients, but there is a sacrifice
of high-value products such as biodiesel