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SEAlgaePower － Sustainable development of microalgae-based ingredients using waste streams from aquaculture and seafood processing industry as feedstock

Research project

Active research

Website

SEAlgaePower

Project period

2025 - 2028

Project owner

Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Research partners

Food and Nutrition Science, Life Sciences, Chalmers RISE Research Institutes of Sweden Klädesholmen Seafood AB NORCE Research AS University of Aveiro University of Palermo SITES Sustainable Innovation Technology Services Ltd NordicFlexHouse DTI Danish Technological Institute University of Sao Paolo NIBIO Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research RAGN-SELLS HAVBRUK AS

Financier

Transnational research and innovation project co-funded by the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP2024-558) under Horizon Europe and Formas (Dnr. 2024-02716).

Area

Sustainability and environment Science and Information Technology

Topic

Environmental Biotechnology Microbiology Water Treatment Fish and Aquacultural Science Medical Materials Food Biotechnology Pharmaceutical and Medical Biotechnology

Short description

The SEAlgaePower project aims to develop technologies where microalgae can clean nutrient-rich residual waters from aquaculture and seafood processing industry, while simultaneously producing biomass for development of novel food, fish feed, fertilizer, medical, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical products in a sustainable way.

About

Background

The fast-growing aquaculture and seafood processing industry generate large amounts of nutrient-rich wastewaters, posing a high cost for discharge. There is a lack of technologies for valorisation of these wastewaters, while there is an increasing demand for new resources intended for carbon-neutral production of food, material and energy. The ability of microalgae to perform photosynthesis and efficiently convert dissolved nutrients into valuable biomass could contribute to solving this dual problem.

Overall objective

The SEAlgaePower project will develop innovative technologies where microalgae can clean currently wasted nutrient-rich water from the aquaculture and seafood processing industry while simultaneously producing biomass for development of novel ingredients in a sustainable way.

Specific objectives

(I) select suitable microalgae species/strains from the North and the Mediterranean Sea in a lab-scale cultivation system based on the ability to grow in different wastewater types; (II) develop pilot-scale algae cultivation protocols and wastewater cleaning; (III) develop biorefinery protocols for protein, lipid and carbohydrate recovery from the microalgal biomass; (IV) develop microalgae-based prototypes and ingredients; (V) assess environmental and socio-economic aspects associated with the project solutions on wastewater cleaning, microalgae cultivation and biomass valorisation, and (VI) maximise the project impact, visibility, and legacy.