Bio-economy pilot
Case for joint-demonstration “Food, feed and
ingredients from microalgae”
Leader: region aa; Co-Leaders: regions bb, cc , etc
pharma
Concept Note

Description of the application(s) envisaged, with detailed description of the specific application
Algae are among the most promising sustainable feedstocks that can be used as ingredients for a large range
of sectors: food, feed, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, pharma, chemistry and energy. In order to industrialize the
field, the technology needs to be further developed and scaled up. To develop the competitiveness of microalgae based products, not only the technical and the economic aspects are important, but also the national
regulations play a fundamental role.
The application presented here is focused on the extraction of high value products from microalgae for
the food sector. Microalgae contain lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and other components (such as colorants,
vitamins and other bioactive compounds) that have the potential to be competitive with the same
components from other sources. The microalgae-based molecules have specific advantages with respect to
their synthetic and traditional alternatives, mainly due to their chemical conformation that is much more
effective for food applications than the synthetic variants. However, production costs of microalgae based
components for the food and feed market are still relatively high in comparison to chemical synthesis or
extraction from plants. The main technical challenge to lower costs of microalgae production is the up-scaling
of the production process.
Food supplements/nutraceuticals and other pharma bioactive compounds have important markets
worldwide for human and animal use, as their regular consumption is associated to better cardiovascular
health parameters (lower incidence of atheroma plate formation and therefore protection against hearth
attack and brain stroke for astaxanthin and omega-3), slower incidence of vision associated problems (night
blindness for beta-carotene and macular degeneration for lutein), better dermatology parameters (diminished
degree of sunlight-dependent skin aging for beta-carotene), pharma applications (antimicrobials, antitumors,
etc. from diverse cyanobacteria and eukaryotic species), as well as neuroprotective effects in children and
elderly people (omega-3). The world market for these nutraceuticals encompasses several thousands of
million €, and therefore represents an interesting industrial alternative.
The specific objective is to enhance the production of known bioactive compounds (astaxanthin, other
carotenoids as lutein or beta-carotene, omega-3 (DHA and EPA) and molecules with antimicrobial, antitumor
or other high value products, from different microalgae strains, as well as characterize the biosynthetic
pathway involved in the production of their compounds in the corresponding strain (as well as cellular factors
involved in protein and lipids storage if present. The next step within an algae demonstration case is the
adequate processing of microalgae biomass to obtain the desired active principles, ensuring the quality of the
Vanguard Initiative - www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu
products according to the standards and achieving a cost-effective extraction of these high-value components.
Eventually, the extracts have to be processed to obtain commercial supplements or to be incorporated to
different food matrices.
Currently, the most important microalgae products for the food and feed sector are dried microalgae
(such as Spirulina and Chlorella), mainly sold directly as dietary supplements. Other commercial species as
Haematococcus pluvialis, Chlorococcum citroforme, Dunaliella salina, Nannochloropsis gaditana and Isochrysis
galbana are used as production factories for astaxanthin, lutein, beta-carotene or omega-3, respectively.
These specific high-value components of microalgae are being extracted andcurrently on the market, used as
dietary supplements. Although most producers of microalgae for food and feed are located in Asia, the USA
and Australia, some European companies are moving to leading positions.
The global market for food and feed supplements/nutraceuticals and pharma compounds derived from
microalgae is still relatively small with respect to alternative sources, although it has a great potential for
growth, as many species have not yet been studied at industrial scale for this purposes. At present, the low
volumes and high production costs of microalgae encourage exclusively the production of high-value
supplements and nutraceuticals for human consumption. However, the bulk production of carbohydrates and
proteins for the feed sector would require higher production volumes with cost effective scale-up and
reduction of production cost.
The production systems of microalgae may vary from open-air ponds to closed systems such as photobio-reactors. Production at lab scale is already solved, but the problem is the efficient industrial production.
Coupling the production system to a CO2 source can accelerate the process of microalgae cultivation.
Waste-to-energy facilities (WtE), anaerobic digestion plants (AD) and urban landfills are known as
intensive sources of CO2 in the waste treatment sector, and they are widely extended across Europe.
Regarding the coupling of an industrial CO2 supplier for efficient microalgae cultivation, the waste treatment
sector brings together a number of potential advantages from a circular-economy perspective, involving an
efficient utilisation of resources:
§ Although landfilling is the last waste management option accordingly to European hierarchy on waste,
the European PRTR accounted up to 1,538 landfills across Europe in 2014. In other territories such as
South America, Asia, etc., landfilling still remains as the prevalent alternative for waste management.
Most of these landfills are intensive CO2/CH4 producers over decades, even after closure.
§ Landfills require huge areas which unfortunately become disused land in many cases after closure.
Moreover, large areas are also underused during landfill operation. On the other hand, these
marginal areas can be a great opportunity for extensive cultivation of microalgae, reducing land
investment.
§ Many landfills are located in "rural" areas to avoid nuisance to large populations. In that case, the
previous agricultural activity is replaced by the waste treatment operations. Extensive microalgae
crops established on landfills could recover the agricultural activity in an innovative way, reactivating
the local economy and reducing green-house emissions through CO2 use.
§ There are more than 500 WtE facilities across Europe, in many cases replacing old landfills. Wherever a
WtE plant is next to a landfill, high-quality CO2 emissions and low cost disused areas could offer
suitable conditions for the installation of extensive microalgae crops.
§ Anaerobic digestion plants for biowaste recovery are an alternative/complement to landfilling. Thus, it
is also common to find this kind of facilities next to old landfills. The CO 2 from biogas combustion and
the disused land could be also suitable for microalgae cultivation.
Vanguard Initiative - www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu
§ Liquors releasing AD plants and WtE bunkers, as well as urban landfill leachate, are of great
environmental concern and therefore have to be treated. When nitrification-denitrification processes
are applied, the ammonium is converted into gaseous N 2 and nitrate, being the last an essential
nutrient for microalgae.
In brief, landfills (and their combination with surrounding WtE, incineration and/or AD facilities) are
able to bring together disused areas, CO2 supply, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphorous to develop
efficient and extensive microalgae crops.
In order to develop a competitive position in the field of microalgae, the most important challenges are
cost reductions, technical breakthroughs and better cooperation between academia and industry. There are
important strengths in Europe in the field of microalgae applications for the food and feed markets. The most
important factors are scientific and technological developments in the field of microalgae research and a
strong food and feed industry with multinationals operating on the global scale. On the other side, some
weaknesses of the European microalgae sector are the low internal demand for microalgae-based food and
feed products and the difficulties in achieving commercial authorization of algae-derived products in the EU
markets due to the Novel Food regulation in Europe.
The most important EU regulations on production and marketing of microalgae-based products for food
and feed are the Food Safety Regulation (EC 178/2002) and the Novel Food Regulation (EC 258/97). The latter
is particularly relevant because it provides the authorization procedures for all new food and feed products.
Authorization is the first and key step for the commercialization of any new food and feed product, including
the ones from microalgae, and producers must provide all the scientific evidences that new products are
substantially equivalent to the traditional ones in order to be authorized. Nutrition and Health claims made on
foods are also regulated (EC 1924/2006). Genetically modified microalgae would be subject to additional
regulations, although they have not reached a commercial phase yet.
This concept note could be complemented with the “biogas beyond energy”: after production of high
Value Added Products the remaining biomass could be transformed into energy within a circular economy
approach.

Assessment of the “distance-to-market” (TRL 5, 6, 7 or 8) and of the business potential for the
own companies.
TRL 5: Technology validated in relevant environment

Description of the key assets of the regions participating
Asturias:
 Research/testing/certification/characterization facilities:
The research group BIONUC, at the Department of Microbiology of the University of Oviedo,
possesses expertise to carry out culture optimization of microbial cultures, genetic engineering,
metabolic engineering, etc., as well as to carry out in vivo tests with these and other nutraceutical
and bioactive compounds in order to analyze their protective effect against several diseases by using
murine animal models (colon cancer, cardiovascular disease, etc.).
ASINCAR leads a food cluster and agro-food technology centre with very good connections with
Vanguard Initiative - www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu
industry. It possesses a pilot plant to test new products and processes, and analytical testing
facilities. Innovation activities include the characterization of microalgae and its extracts, strategies
to incorporate them in food products, and new product development.

Companies along the value chain:
The SME NEOALGAE possesses facilities for the cultivation of microalgae up to 3,000 liters, both as
raceway ponds and columns photobioreactors, including the scaling up section with Nalgene bottles
of different volumes, where both fresh water and marine strains can be developed. The facility has
several methods to increase the scale of algae for larger applications. The facility is prepared for the
addition of new culture systems, for example, microalgae culture plastic bags, the same are used in
aquaculture. For the downstream process, the biomass is centrifuged and subsequently spry-dried.
The facility is located inside a greenhouse where artificial light sources are been installed in order to
boost the culture when the natural sun light is not possible.
NEOALGAE is one of the main microalgae companies in the Spanish market. Nevertheless, NEOALGAE
is the only microalgae company in Spain that has obtained two health registrations for the
production of microalgae, granted by the Government of Principality of Asturias. The main focus of
NEOALGE is the development of biotechnological solutions for the cultivation and the downstream
processes such as drying and high value product extraction.
COGERSA is the public consortium for waste management in Asturias (Spain), formed by the
Government of Asturias and its 78 municipal councils. Since 1985, COGERSA has evolved from a
centralised municipal landfill to a modern integrated waste treatment site. The consortium is the
owner of the facilities, which are managed by COGERSA SAU, a public company owned by COGERSA.
This unique waste treatment site consists of 3 landfills including biogas recovery and leachate
treatment (Biomembrat process); anaerobic digestion for biowaste and sewage sludge; Incineration
of clinical waste including energy recovery (WtE); composting of green waste and sewage sludge; 6
sorting areas (paper/cardboard, light packaging, glass, WEEE, bulky waste, and construction and
demolition waste); physic-chemical process and solidification/stabilization for hazardous waste; oil
recovery; laboratory; and visitors centre for environmental campaigns and dissemination activities.
http://www.cogersa.es/metaspace/portal/14498/50234
During the last years, COGERSA SAU has been involved in a number of relevant R+D activities
http://www.cogersa.es/metaspace/portal/14498/50239, highlighting ReCO2very project aimed to
demonstrate the suitability of exhaust gases of an incineration plant for microalgae cultivation in a
landfill site. http://www.cogersa.es/metaspace/portal/14498/50167
 Other companies:
Design and manufacturing of photobioreactors: TSK, IDESA, Sadim, Proaginor
Food companies: CAPSA.
Chemistry companies: Euromedica Pharmaceuticals Industries
Other: Inbiogas, MBA, Impulso.
Vallonia (Belgium)
-Dr Juan Carlos CABRERA
Vanguard Initiative - www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu
Unité de biotechnologie-Materia Nova
Email : [email protected]
www.materianova.be
Materia Nova is member of EMRA. Somos un centro de investigación científicamente dependiente de la
Universidad de Mons, en la Región Valonia en Bélgica. En nuestro grupo, tenemos experiencia de trabajo con
microalgas, la optimización de las condiciones de cultivo, y sobre todo, extracción de moléculas de interés,
incluyendo metabolitos de bajo peso molecular y polisacáridos (EPS), análisis estructural y estudio de la
bioactividad.
Vallonia (Belgium)
-Dr. Mahmoud Hamzaoui
Food Technologies-Extraction
CELABOR scrl
Research and Testing Centre in Food, Packaging,
Environmental and Textile Technologies.
BELGIUM
Email: [email protected] website: www.celabor.be
I received, with pleasure, the description of the “Case for joint-demonstration “Food and feed
ingredients from algae” sent by Mrs. Séverine Coppée from “Greenwin”. I am thanking you for your interest in
our company. Celabor, as an SME, we recently participated in a EU-proposal concerning micro-algae refining,
and we are giving a great interest to participate and to develop projects in this topic.
This promising research thematic match perfectly with our technological and scientific know-how in the
field of natural product extraction and purification from plants, microbial broths and biomass, acquired during
20 years of Research and Development activities. Our strength is our expertise in the field of “Green
Extraction Technologies” including, pilot scale SFE-CO2-sc (2 pilot plants), pilot scale Subcritical Water
Extraction “SWE” technology (fractionation and hydrolyzation operations of polysaccharides, proteins,
hemicellulose, etc.) Centrifugal Partition Chromatography/Extraction (CPC and CPE) for the purification of high
added value compounds.
Vallonia (Belgium)
-Claire Remacle
Full Professor
Genetics and Physiology of microalgae
University of Liege
Belgium
Characterization of biosynthetic pathways involved in the production of specific compounds from
diverse microalgae by setting up screening mutant protocols followed by mutant characterization.
Galicia
Portal Ramos Vieiro
Junior RTD Policy Officer
Brussels
Vanguard Initiative - www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu
Scotland
Rickard Eksten
Scotland Europa

What is the added value of joint demonstration activities here?
 Building complementary expertise:
Complementary expertise: microalgae cultivation, isolation of high value products for the nutraceutical
market at industrial level, genetic engineering of microbial biosynthetic pathways, in vitro and in vivo
bioassays in human/animal cell cultures for diverse activities (cardioprotective, antioxidant, antitumor).
Regulatory aspects.
 Getting involvement of larger community of lead users:
Food industries, pharma industries, food additives industries.

Description of a first set of common demonstration activities.
-Optimization of microalgae cultures with the aim of enhance the productivity of known bioactive
compounds as for example Haematococcus pluvialis to obtain astaxanthin, Nannochloropsis gaditana to
obtain EPA, Chlorococcum citroforme to obtain lutein, Dunaliella salina to obtain beta-carotene,
Nannochloropsis gaditana and Isochrysis galbana to obtain omega-3, and Spirulina to obtain proteins and
biomass.
-Optimization of microalgae cultures to enhance the productivity of diverse pharma compounds of
commercial interest.
-Demonstration of the downstream processes: harvesting, centrifugation and drying
-Set-up of the extraction of high-value components (CO2 supercritical extraction or other)
-Elaboration of final products with the extracts: food, feed, supplements, cosmetics, fertilizers….
-Regulatory aspects
-Market Research
-Economical assessment.

Who would be interested to join the case?
This concept note will be disseminated across the network. Please indicate here which different type of actors
that in your opinion might have an interest to join the case, and why.
Companies that could be interested in joining the case would include final users such as feed
companies, food companies, agronomic companies and cosmetic companies. The reason is that both
microalgae strains and molecules indicated at the start of this document are available to be used in all this
areas. Astaxanthin is a strong cardioprotective agent that can be applied in fish feed, nutritional supplements
and cosmetics. Beta-carotene and lutein are important for vision health. Omega-3 is an essential oil required
by the body for proper functioning, since it protects from cardiovascular diseases and improves the
Vanguard Initiative - www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu
development and functioning of the nervous and visual system. Therefore can be used in different sectors.
And proteins from Spirulina are high valued because this strain contents all essential amino acids.
Involvement of any company from the sectors previously mentioned will allow a fast commercialization
of these products.
Vanguard Initiative - www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu