Macroalgae biorefinery for value-added products (MAB4) (39372)

MAB4 will bridge the gap between research, innovation and market within the macroalgae (seaweed) sector. The goal is to establish seaweed cultivation as a Danish disciplin for providing seaweed biomass for the business sectors of food and feed ingredients, and cosmetics.

MAB4 will breed and mature sea-farmed crops of seaweed by improved and new cultivation methods in Danish and Faroese waters, with particular attention to seasonal development of algae bioactive substances and their conservation during harvesting and storage.

The project will also develop sustainable enzymatic and Green Solvent extraction methods for development of new algae products i.e. antioxidants, fucoidan, laminarin, alginate, proteins, and minerals. The products will be tested as food and feed ingredients as well as in skincare products. Techno-economic feasibility and LCA will assess for the whole value chain from cultivation to final marketed seaweed products.

MAB4 is a trans-disciplinary project running for 3½ years. The project consists of a strong consortium of national and international algae cultivators, biorefinery experts from universities, RTO's, SMEs and relevant industrial end-users.

The results from MAB4 will provide guidelines for stakeholders from industry and for future seaweed cultivation.

Partners
DTU Aqua
Danish Technological Institute, Denmark (coordinator)
Aarhus University, Denmark
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Ocean Rainforest, Faro Islands
FermentationExperts, Denmark
At Sea Technology, Belgium
National Food Institute (DTU Food), Technical University of Denmark
DTU Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark
Morgenfruerne på Læsø, Denmark
Kattegatcentret, Denmark
AgroKorn, Denmark
Melissa, Denmark
Nordisk Tang, Denmark
Hortimare, Netherlands
BHJ, Denmark

Funding
This project is funded by Innovation Fund Denmark.

Research area: Coastal Ecology