Research
& Innovation

GO MicroClimatt

By valuing the essential role of agricultural biostimulants, specifically those made from microalgae biomass, the MicroClimatt Operational Group seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of innovative biostimulant solutions derived from microalgae that can efficiently combat the effects of climate change in crops such as tomatoes or wheat. MicroClimatt will evaluate in these crops the effects that, at a physiological and transcriptomic level, are induced by treatment with novel microalgal biostimulants, including conditions that are directly or indirectly caused by climate change, such as situations of water stress or poor fertilization rates.

MicroClimatt will evaluate the improvement of water stress resistance and the efficiency of nutrient use in tomato and wheat crops treated with microalgae biostimulants. Additionally, they aim to quantify the incorporation of carbon in plant biomass of crops linked to increased productivity, evaluate the increase in the incorporation of organic carbon in the 'soil sink', and study the improvement of the edaphic fertility of soils due to the treatment of crops with derivatives of microalgae, as well as the improvement of the quality, functionality, and sustainability of the soil.

The project is promoted and coordinated by AlgaEnergy, with top-level partners.

Spain - 0.5 Million €

Fertimanure

Use of manure nutrients. Five value chains are considered in parallel in the following European countries: Spain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. AlgaEnergy participates in the Spanish value chain. The company's tasks respond to the recovery of liquid effluent after several nutrient recovery processes carried out by the University of Vic and the Leitat Technological Center (solids removal, reverse osmosis processes and membrane filtration). The effluent, lacking organic matter, will be valued by AlgaEnergy for the cultivation of green microalgae.

Spain - 7.9 Million €

BIORECOVER

Bioremediation project, endowed with about € 6 million focused on the recovery of high-value raw materials (rare earths, magnesium, heavy and precious metals) used by different industries through different biotechnological solutions, including microalgae. The tasks of AlgaEnergy contemplate the use of four species of microalgae and cyanobacteria as biosorbents (bioadsorption and bioabsorption) to recover these materials.

Spain - 6.3 Million €

INTERCOME

The European Commission selected AlgaEnergy as one of the SMEs with the highest growth potential in Europe, with strategic importance for the continent. For this reason, the EC financed 70% of its business plan, non-repayable, during 2017-2018.

INTERCOME (INTERnational COmmercialization of innovative products based on MicroalgaE), based on AlgaEnergy's business plan, is an extension of the ALGAEPRINT project (SME Instrument Phase 1). The project's main purpose was to put into four different markets products derived from the produced biomass by guaranteeing continuous cultivation capacity.

INTERCOME project wants to set an example of an easily scalable high-growth circular system, which considers microalgae as the engine of a green economy since they are an inexhaustible source of valuable raw materials for different sectors. INTERCOME's eco-innovative business model contributes to simultaneously addressing important challenges, such as environmental sustainability and resource efficiency, facing humanity in this century.

Financial support: 2.5 Million €

CIEN METASIN

The main objective of the METASIN Project is to research and develop active ingredients, foods and multifunctional food supplements that are "ready to market" and capable of affecting pathologies and risk factors in human populations, thus generating new business opportunities for food companies.

Metabolic syndrome, the so-called epidemic of the 21st Century, comprises a group of pathological conditions that possibly lead to heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

The products developed in METASIN, with AlgaEnergy's microalgae as a functional ingredient, will be a natural alternative to the treatment of metabolic syndrome.

Financial support: Spain - 11 Million €

ECLIPSE

The objective of the ECLIPSE Project, part of the Seventh EC Framework Programme and with allocated funding of EUR 5.3 million, is the development of new materials from residues and, more specifically, the obtaining of an ecological tetrabrik type container from microalgal residue.

The task of AlgaEnergy is the selection of those microalgae whose biochemical composition makes them suitable in order to obtain lactic acid, as well as the development of an exploitation strategy for the algal residue derived from the separation process of lipids to produce biofuels.

ECLIPSE project is led by IK4 CIDETEC and involves the participation of several multinationals (BIOPAC, FUTERRO, BANACOL, ANTARTIC and GALACTIC) and leading European and Latin American research centers, including Spanish, Belgian, Swedish, German, Colombian and Chilean universities.

Co-funding:

Financial support: Spain - 5.3 Million €

CIEN PROGRESO

The main objective of the PROGRESO Project is to research innovative technologies that lead to food products of high added value for improving the protein contribution in feeding and providing technical solutions to certain target population groups with specific protein demands.

Thus, the project aims to provide new knowledge, technologies and innovation to make possible the use of proteinaceous raw materials, currently not exploited, as high-quality sources for human food. In this context microalgae, which are the vegetable source with the highest protein content on the planet, are called upon to play a fundamental role.

Co-funding:

Financial support: Spain - 9 Million €

BIO-BASED INDUSTRIES CONSORTIUM

AlgaEnergy is part of the European Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) which, in association with the European Commission and with a budget of €2 billion until 2020, sought to lay the foundations for a competitive, innovative and sustainable Europe, guiding the transition to a post-petrol era, freeing economic growth from resource depletion and environmental degradation.

BIC is made up of approximately 60 institutions, including companies and research centers. AlgaEnergy is the first company exclusively dedicated to microalgae biotechnology to be part of this prestigious European consortium.

Financial support: Spain - 2.000 Million €

ALIPROT

The main purpose of this project was to research the technological and healthy functionalities of different protein sources (dairy, meat, vegetables and algae), as well as their applicability in different food sectors. This research aims to establish methodologies for the design and development of innovative ingredients and new healthy foods with high protein content that respond to nutritional and sensory requirements of populations with greater muscle and vascular demands, such as the senior population (given the connection between loss of muscle mass and aging) and athletes (with a very active muscle metabolism).

ALIPROT project is promoted by a consortium formed by four companies and coordinated by the company Delaviuda Alimentación. ALIPROT project (Research and Development of protein ingredients and foods with technological and healthy functionalities aimed at specific population groups), with file number ITC-20151395, has been subsidized by CDTI and has the support of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, within the FEDER Innterconecta program in the 2015 tender call.

Co-funding:

Financial support: Spain - 2 Million €

BYEFOULING

The aim of this program is to take up the production, on an industrial scale, of low toxicity, environmentally friendly antifouling coatings for use in shipping, fishing vessels, floating devices and aquaculture. AlgaEnergy´s mission for this program is the selection, cultivation and supply to the consortiums of biomass from different strains of microalgae, in order to be contrasted and their properties used as antifouling agents.

BYEFOULING Consortium is made up of 11 European countries and led by Stiftelsen SINTEF, in addition to AlgaEnergy, CIDETEC Foundation, Fraunhofer Institute, MateriaNova, MARINTEK, Smallmatek SA, Lonza Ltd, OCAS N.V., Jotun AS, AquaBioTech Ltd, Zunibal SL, Plasmachem GmbH and the Universities of Santiago de Compostela, Tel Aviv, Liverpool, Mons, National Technical University of Athens and Chalmers University of Technology.

Co-funding:

Financial support: Spain - 9.9 Million €

ALGAEPISCIS

In collaboration with the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology (Faculty of Biology) of the University of Santiago de Compostela, with the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Almeria and with the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO), PISCIS program has achieved the development of a production process of high-quality microalgae biomass for use in aquaculture, which has involved:

- The development of large-scale culture medium preparation and sterilization systems.

- Optimization of the design of the most suitable photobioreactor for the production of microalgae species of high interest in aquaculture.

- The development of biomass preservation systems that maximize its useful life and quality.

The products currently marketed by AlgaEnergy, which are the result of research carried out in recent years, have obtained PREMIUM Certification from the University of Santiago de Compostela, demonstrating their high quality with the following results:

Increase in fish larvae survival rate

Increased fish larvae weight

Higher yields of aquaculture crops

100% own financing:

Financial support: Spain - 0.7 Million €

CO2ALGAEFIX

Before the European Commission, AlgaEnergy promoted the project CO2ALGAEFIX, whose objective is the biofixation in microalgal culture of the existing CO2 in the combustion gases of industrial origin and the transformation of this harmful gas into useful and marketable products.

The Consortium formed to develop this project is led by AlgaEnergy and completed by Iberdrola, the Andalusian Energy Agency, Exeleria and Madrid Network, as well as the Universities of Seville and Almeria. This initiative is part of the project's portfolio approved and co-financed by the European Commission within LIFE+ 2011 Program.

The development of this program which, as a result of subsidies only, has EUR 3 million, involves the construction and exploitation of a microalgae cultivation plant located on the land of the Combined Cycle Power Plant that Iberdrola owns in Arcos de la Frontera (Cadiz), the largest in Spain and the second largest in Europe, with 1600 MW of installed power.

Co-funding:

Financial support: Spain - 3 Million €

CO2BIOCAP

In the context of carbon dioxide (CO2), AlgaEnergy has effectively solved the need to know in advance if the combustion gases and that gas emanating from a certain emitting source are compatible with its efficient biological fixation in microalgal culture. To this end, the company has developed, together with the University of Almeria and the collaboration of the Community of Madrid, the project CO2BIOCAP (BIOlogical capture and fixation of CO2 ), whose specific objective has been to create a mobile system for capturing CO2 in stationary emitting sources for its storage in activated carbon and subsequent biofixation in microalgae culture (registered Utility Model). The entire operation and process are carried out automatically in the laboratory itself.

With the know-how obtained in this project, AlgaEnergy offers the benefits of the CO2BIOCAP mobile laboratory to CO2-emitting industries, in order to develop an ad hoc protocol for capturing and biofixing each harmful gas in the most appropriate microalgae strain.

Co-funding:

Financial support: Spain - 0.5 Million €

CENIT VIDA

The potential of microalgae as a raw material is such that, in order to cover its full extent, it should be necessary to integrate, in a common scenario, the specialized actors of the various strategic sectors involved.

AlgaEnergy, deeply convinced of this need, promoted the project CENIT VIDA (Algae Integral Valorization) which, led by its partner Iberdrola, was approved by the Spanish government in its sixth call (September 2010). The program lasted four years with EUR 19 million of allocated funding.

CENIT VIDA brought together the efforts of 14 relevant multinationals and specialized companies, the main scientific authorities and up to a total of 24 Spanish public research organizations which explored, jointly and multidisciplinarily, the potential use of microalgae.

Co-funding:

Financial support: Spain - 19 Million €

GENETDIESEL

In 2010, AlgaEnergy launched its own research program, called GENETDIESEL, "Selection and genetic improvement of microalgae and cyanobacteria for the production of biodiesel". The purpose of this program is to select microalgae and cyanobacteria strains that, through genetic engineering and metabolic modification, increase their capacity to produce lipids that can be converted into biodiesel and other biofuels, in exterior conditions of active growth.

GENETDIESEL is being developed by the research groups "Gene expression and signal transduction in photosynthetic organisms" and "Microalgae biotechnology" of the Institute of Vegetal Biochemistry and Photosynthesis, in which 11 researchers and doctors participate, led by Prof. Francisco Javier Florencio Bellido and Prof. Miguel García Guerrero from the University of Seville.

Some of the relevant results obtained are:

- In some cyanobacteria, the fatty acid content of the cell has been increased by up to 30% through genetic modifications.

- Through metabolic engineering, a mutant type that contains mutations in several metabolic pathways has been obtained and presents an extracellular fatty acids content that is double compared with that of the wild type.

-Three new patents are derived from the GENETDIESEL program.:

100% own financing:

Spain - 1 Million €