Members of the 21 partner entities of CIRCALGAE’s project met in Valencia on April 20th and 21st at the 2nd General Assembly of the project. RNB cosmetic business group and IATA-CSIC hosted the meeting, which was attended by more than 40 people. The Packaging Research Group, from the Department of Preservation Technologies and Food Safety of IATA-CSIC, organized the meeting.
The CIRCALGAE project aims to develop sustainable algae-based biorefineries and products supporting the health of aquatic ecosystems for a healthy planet and people. IATA’s Packaging Group is one of the 21 partners who work to valorise industrial algae waste streams into high-value products to foster future sustainable blue biorefineries in Europe.
By developing a new green biorefinery concept, the project aims to extract ingredients with health and functional benefits to produce new high added value products with a neutral environmental impact. These products are intended for food ingredients, protein rich feed and cosmetic formulations.
The cultivation of algae will be optimized, in particular thanks to new parameters that will make it possible to extract ingredients with the greatest possible benefit. In order to integrate a viable economic model, the project involves consumers and professionals through working groups, surveys and tests.
While the European Union has set targets to reduce pressure on natural resources, while creating growth, jobs and carbon neutrality, CIRCALGAE is making a contribution in the algae sector.
Why valorise algae waste streams?
Algal biomass is massively produced (over 36Mt/year worldwide) but at the same time underexploited. Vast amount of waste is generated by the algal industries (up to 95% of the initial biomass in some cases). Through a cascade biorefinery approach this waste material can be transformed into high-value products.
