Life Cycle Analysis of Producing Microbial Lipids and Biodiesel: Comparison with Plant Lipids.

Life Cycle Assessment is the "compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle" (ISO 14040). Examples of environmental impacts include climate change, ozone depletion, toxicity, eutrophication, particulate matter, radiation, and more. In this chapter we describe the process of undertaking an LCA for algal products, considering the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, standards, as well as information from the European Renewable Energy Directive. We describe popular software packages, and the approach of purely using a spreadsheet with an example of algae- and soy-based biodiesel.