A solar fuel is a synthetic chemical fuel produced from solar energy. Solar fuels can be produced through photochemical (i.e., activation of certain chemical reactions by photons), photobiological (i.e., artificial photosynthesis), thermochemical (i.e., through the use of solar heat supplied by concentrated solar thermal energy to drive a chemical reaction), and electrochemical reactions (i.e., using the electricity from solar panels to drive a chemical reaction). Light is used as an energy source, with solar energy being transduced to chemical energy, typically by reducing protons to hydrogen or carbon dioxide to organic compounds. Solar fuel can be produced and stored for later use when sunlight is not available, making it an alternative to fossil fuels and batteries. Examples of such fuels are hydrogen, ammonia, and hydrazine. Diverse photocatalysts are being developed to carry these reactions in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way.
Published in Chapter:
A Sustainable Supply Chain Model for the Development of Green Fuel Production From Microalgae
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 22
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-2438-4.ch013
Abstract
This study presents designing and managing a green fuel supply chain based on algae to investigate the development of such fuels in the country. On this basis, a definitive model is first developed to model all the activities of the green fuel supply chain, which includes the supply of raw materials for the growth of algae, the cultivation of algae and their conversion into fuel, and finally, the supply of fuel in the country. This deterministic model is extended to a robust network model to secure supply chain decisions against uncertainty. Using the proposed model for the development of algal fuels in Iran shows that the green fuel production cost is currently 27 cents/liter. The current cost of producing fuel from algae cannot compete with fossil fuels, but this cost can be greatly reduced in the future by slightly increasing the growth rate of algae and their oil content.