Careful consideration the locations overall potential should be taken before a microalgae production plant is considered. To avoid selecting a site with conflicting land use, it was important to identify areas that were not previously developed or used for a more economically viable use. As the world’s population increases there will be a greater demand for biofuels but also an increased demand for land as food production. Food verses fuel is the dilemma regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for liquid biofuel production to the detriment of the food supply on a global scale .More recent GIS-based algal biofuel production facility site targeting includes estimates of production potential . This approach has been used widely in the US and other parts of the world with excellent results. The approach focused primarily on the physical characteristics of optimal locations including land-use/land-cover and slope, and climatic considerations such as insulation,flood and drain tray temperature,precipitation and evaporation .
Iran is a very historic country with a very deep culture that lies in the Middle East bordering Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey. Iranians consist of several ethnic groups who have been living peacefully with each other since the beginning of the central government in Iran 550BC, Achaemenians. Iran has a rapid population growth and despite it having some of the largest gas and oils reserves in the world it is still trying to develop renewable energy sources. Iranian algae biofuel projects is being carries out by researchers iat Tarbiat Modaras University, Tehran and Shiraz University who succeeded in producing green fuel from algae .Lake Urmia is a salt lake in the North West in Iran which presents itself as an ideal location for a microalgae production plant with many advantages such as suitable water salinity, plenty of sunlight and warm temperatures. See Figure 3.A salt lake in Iran has given rise to a new species of algae for biofuel . Lake Urimia’s natural environment is very well suited to microalgae cultivation with algal blooms not being an uncommon occurrence on the region. The “Red Tide” is actually the result of an algal bloom,an event in which marine or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water.
Australia is a very vast land with multiple locations in the North Western corner that could be considered as having the ideal conditions for microalgae biofuel production. Western Australia already hosts the largest commercial microalgae production plant in the world,nft hydroponic the Dunaliella salina plant producing the valuable carotenoid B-carotene from this algae . This plant is owned and operated by Badishece Anilan-& Sodafabrik since 1989in the Hutt Lagoon Pilbara region of Western Australia for the production of natural food coloring, demonstrating the regions suitability for microalgae production. As shown in Figure 4Many other locations in the same region offer good potential for the cultivation of microalgae that can be utilized for other applications such as biofuel. Western Australia specifically, has several key advantages for large-scale microalgae for biofuel cultivation including abundant sunshine, extensive land area unsuitable for agriculture, an abundant water source in the Indian Ocean, existing infrastructure in several potential locations, high local demand for fuel and stable political conditions . The USA has many locations that have been identified as potentially viable locations to grow microalgae for biofuel with particular focus on the states from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Salton Sea Lake in Southern California has good environmental, geographical and climatic conditions to suit microalgae cultivation. Over the years the Salton Sea featured in several generic engineering cost analysis, including one that developed cost estimates for a pilot-scale facility and full scale microalgae fuels production on the shores of this lake . Salton Sea Lake is suffering from environmental damage as a result of local agriculture and therefore a microalgae cultivation plant could also offer advantages in assisting in water purification. This large , shallow, inland lake receives about 10,000 tons of nitrogen and phosphorous per year from agricultural drainage waters and other sources, resulting in massive algal blooms, fish kills and other negative environmental impacts. See Figure 5 . As part of this paper one of the three locations is to be selected for further study and analysis so that a design and operating cost model can be created. This model can be used as an indicator to determine the viability and problems that may arise in such a project. The selection criteria must take into account all of the influencing factors that may impact on the project helping to determine its chances of successful operation. The influencing factors are of a very broad nature with consideration given to, but not limited to climate, topography, environmental risks, local infrastructure and local political and economic issues.