David F. Batten

Life cycle assessment of biodiesel production from microalgae in ponds

This paper analyses the potential environmental impacts and economic viability of producing biodiesel from microalgae grown in ponds. A comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of a notional production system designed for Australian conditions was conducted to compare biodiesel production from algae (with three different scenarios for carbon dioxide supplementation and two different production rates) with canola and ULS (ultra-low sulfur) diesel. Comparisons of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions (g CO(2)-e/tkm) and costs (¢/tkm) are given. Algae GHG emissions (-27.6 to 18.2) compare very favourably with canola (35.9) and ULS diesel (81.2). Costs are not so favourable, with algae ranging from 2.2 to 4.8, compared with canola (4.2) and ULS diesel (3.8). This highlights the need for a high production rate to make algal biodiesel economically attractive.

Infrastructure and the complexity of economic development

1. Infrastructure and the Complexity of Economic Development: An Exploratory Introduction.- A: Infrastructure And Productivity.- 2. Infrastructure and Manufacturing Productivity: Regional Accessibility and Development Level Effects.- 3. Assessing the Role of Infrastructure in France by Means of Regionally Estimated Production Functions.- 4. The Linkage Between Transportation Infrastructure Investment and Productivity: A U.S. Federal Research Perspective.- 5. Public Capital, Private Sector Productivity and Economic Growth: A Macroeconomic Perspective.- B: Infrastructure Policy: Pricing And Ownership Issues.- 6. Infrastructure, Wages and Land Prices.- 7. Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations in California: A Critical Evaluation.- 8. Does Multiplicity Matter more than Ownership in the Efficiency of Infrastructure Services?.- 9. Ownership, Investment and Pricing of Transport and Communications Infrastructure.- C: The Complexity Of Economic Development.- 10. Complexity, Adaptability and Flexibility in Infrastructure and Regional Development: Insights and Implications for Policy Analysis and Planning.- 11. Production Milieu and Competitive Advantages.- 12. A Review of Infrastructures Impact on Economic Development.- 13. Infrastructure and Urban Development: The Case of the Amsterdam Orbital Motorway.- 14. Innovative Capacity, Infrastructure and Regional Policy.- 15. Valuations of Environmental Externalities: Some Recent Results.- Author Index.- List of Contributors.

Knowledge and Industrial Organization

1. From the Industrial Age to the Knowledge Economy.- I. Industrial Organization in the Knowledge Economy.- a) Intelligent Factor Inputs.- 2. Productivity in Manufacturing and the Division of Mental Labor.- 3. What Have We Learned in the Path from Godel and Turing to Artificial Intelligence?.- b) Knowledge Development and Diffusion.- 4. Knowledge, Nodes and Networks: An Analytical Perspective.- 5. Innovation, Diffusion and Regions.- 6. Technological and Institutional Innovations in the Service Sector.- 7. Research and Development, Corporate Organisation and Industrial Location: Prospects for Regional Development.- 8. Diffusion of Technological Change and Economic Growth.- II. Technological and Economic Interactions: Some Empirical Studies.- a) Long Cycles of Technological Transition.- 9. The Barrier-Breakthrough Model of Innovation and the Life Cycle Model of Industrial Evolution as Applied to the U.S. Electrical Industry.- 10. The Evolution of High Technology in the Boston Region 1920-1980.- 11. Innovation, R and D, and Firm Growth in Robotics: Japan and the United States.- 12. Spatial Diffusion of Information Technology in Sweden.- 13. Innovative Behaviour of Industrial Firms: Results from a Dutch Empirical Study.- 14. Innovating Behaviour of Swiss Industry - Findings and Policy Conclusions.- c) R&D and Property Rights.- 15. Infrastructure for Technological Change: Intellectual Property Rights.- III. The Political Economy of Structural Change.- a) Interdependencies between Industrial and Regional Structural Change in the USA.- 16. High-Technology Location and Worker Mobility in the U.S..- 17. Economic Expansion and Establishment Growth on the Periphery.- 18. The Economic, Industrial, and Regional Consequences of Defence-led Innovation.- b) The Micro-Macro Policy Problem.- 19. Some Reflections on Innovation Stimulating Policy.- 20 New Issues in Science and Technology Policy: Discontinuities in the Process of Knowledge Generation, Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Transformation.- 21. Micro-Macro Interactions and US Industrial Change.- 22. Swedish Science Policy: The Governments New Research Bill.- 23. A Ten-Year Review of Science Policy in Sweden.- List of Contributors.

Using wastewater and high-rate algal ponds for nutrient removal and the production of bioenergy and biofuels

This paper projects a positive outcome for large-scale algal biofuel and energy production when wastewater treatment is the primary goal. Such a view arises partly from a recent change in emphasis in wastewater treatment technology, from simply oxidising the organic matter in the waste (i.e. removing the biological oxygen demand) to removing the nutrients - specifically nitrogen and phosphorus - which are the root cause of eutrophication of inland waterways and coastal zones. A growing need for nutrient removal greatly improves the prospects for using new algal ponds in wastewater treatment, since microalgae are particularly efficient in capturing and removing such nutrients. Using a spreadsheet model, four scenarios combining algae biomass production with the making of biodiesel, biogas and other products were assessed for two of Australias largest wastewater treatment plants. The results showed that super critical water reactors and anaerobic digesters could be attractive pathway options, the latter providing significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions. Combining anaerobic digestion with oil extraction and the internal economies derived from cheap land and recycling of water and nutrients on-site could allow algal oil to be produced for less than US

Greenhouse Gas Balance and Algae-Based Biodiesel

1 per litre.

Europe’s Hierarchical Network Economy

This chapter discusses the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) in relation to algal biofuels by first of all describing life cycle assessment (LCA) as a process that considers the whole process chain from biomass production to the biodiesel combustion. The chapter continues with an example in which the methods of life cycle assessment are used to analyse the potential greenhouse gas emissions and energy balance of biodiesel production from microalgae. The design chosen in this study focuses on commercial scale, plastic-bag reactors and the biofixation of CO2 from a nearby power station to assist in the growth of the algae. Eight different scenarios involving photobioreactors are examined that involve two methods for harvesting the algae (mechanical harvesting and chemical harvesting by flocculant); two methods for oil extraction (solvent extraction and high pressure extraction), and also two end-uses for the algal cake that remains after oil extraction (animal feed and production of energy through methane combustion after anaerobic digestion). The scenario results are compared with previous scenarios of biodiesel from microalgae grown in ponds, and also with diesel and canola biodiesel production.

From the Industrial Age to the Knowledge Economy

Prior to the eleventh century, Europe was a loosely knit, largely self-sufficient feudal society. Because commerce was embryonic and money a rarity, trade over longer distances was rather small. By the turn of the millennium, however, the picture had changed considerably. All trade had grown substantially with that over medium and longer distances growing most of all. The timing of this sudden expansion of trade coincided with large increases in the urban population.

Economic Dynamics, Evolution and Structural Adjustment

Some aspects of economic life were taken for granted in the industrial age. Surprisingly enough, one of the scarcest resources of all — knowledge — was treated as given and inflexible in its supply, just like minerals and other natural resources.

The Evolutionary Network Economy: Historical Parallels from Europe and Japan

From perspectives represented in this volume, contemporary economics may be regarded as a mature discipline. It has brought the state of the art close to the boundaries of the predominant paradigm. Breaking through these boundaries implies a search for alternatives or at least some alterations to this paradigm. Many of the contributions contained herein spring from such ambitions. The different chapters consist of various attempts to permeate the boundaries or to open up new pathways within the existing paradigm, and in several cases to break with the established tradition.

Managing energy futures and greenhouse gas emissions with the help of agent-based simulation

It has long been evident that two different representations of space are possible. In the continuous model, location is defined as a point in a spatial coordinate system. By way of contrast, the discrete model approximates space using an index of location. Each index stands for one region within a set of interacting (often contiguous) regions. Regional input-output analysis is a typical case in point.