Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GENIALG (GENetic diversity exploitation for Innovative macro-ALGal biorefinery)

Teaser

Biorefinery of terrestrial biomass has been ongoing for decades with the progression of technology enabling the supply of a wide variety of biocompounds to the food, feed and chemical sectors by industrial scale plants. GENIALG recognizes the advantages of Macroalgae biomass...

Summary

Biorefinery of terrestrial biomass has been ongoing for decades with the progression of technology enabling the supply of a wide variety of biocompounds to the food, feed and chemical sectors by industrial scale plants. GENIALG recognizes the advantages of Macroalgae biomass, over terrestrial biomass, as aside from their unique chemical composition, they do not require arable land, fresh water or phytochemical treatments. The current production yield of macroalgae biomass has already overtaken that of several terrestrial counterparts. However, seaweed farms in European waters are uncommon and in general serve only niche markets, i.e. food, health and cosmetics, due to the high cost of cultivation labor and infrastructure. Since a decade, the academic interest for seaweeds has been growing exponentially, but unfortunately this recognition has not been reflected in an industry perspective.
Therefore, the main aims of the GENIALG are:
- to increase the production scale and the sustainable exploitation of two high-yielding species of the EU seaweed biomass: the brown alga Saccharina latissima and the green algae Ulva spp at 2 demonstration sites in Norway and Portugal.
- to demonstrate the economic feasibility and environmental sustainability of cultivating and refining seaweed biomass in multiple use demanded products of marine renewable origin with zero wastes in 2 demonstrator pre-industrial pilot plants in France.
By cracking the biomass and supplying a wide diversity of chemical compounds for existing as well as new applications and markets, GENIALG will anticipate the economic, social and environmental impacts of such developments in term of economic benefit and job opportunities liable to increase the seaweed value chain.
In a larger frame, conservation and biosafety issues are addressed as well as social aspects such as acceptability and licensing.
To achieve these objectives GENIALG is fostering a trans-sectorial and complementary consortium of scientists and private companies. GENIALG involve companies already positioned in the seaweed sector individually for different applications (texturants, feed, agriculture, bio-based plastics, pharmaceuticals, personal care products…) in order to strengthen interactions for developing a bio-refinery concept and accelerate efficient and sustainable exploitation of the biomass to bring new high-value products on the market.

Work performed

These first 18 months comprised the activities of 7 work packages (WP) with few results already published, but a lot of work in progress and confidential results that should be protected.
The biobanking of genetic resources and the breeding program (WP2) reached a first milestone as a catalogue of strains for both Saccharina and Ulva, which encompasses 283 and 200 isolates, respectively, that are progressively integrated within the the EU-Infrastructure EMBRC collections. New genetic tools for seaweeds are developed such as a Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) and a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) approaches for Saccharina and a GWAS for Ulva.
The upscaling of current small cultivation seaweed operations (WP3) has reached the most important milestone that was to actually ensure sufficient high-quality biomass for analysis in WP 4, as well as to ensure an efficient and mechanised cultivation process that allows for large-scale supply of the quantity range required for Biorefinery.
The implementation of innovative chemical and biological processes (WP4) for the extraction of bioactive molecules, hydrocolloids, proteins and minerals for industrial utilization led to the characterization of the composition of algae grown in different locations including Norway, France, Scotland and Portugal to assess how this impacts biomass quality and the content of potential value-added products. Central to the biorefinery concept is the capability for efficient process integration, that are providing the keys to build the two demonstrators.
WP5 develop and test a number of sustainable and economically viable value chains for a Europe-wide implementation. Several scenarios of technico-economic developments are drawn and implemented to define sustainable and economically viable value chains that are now available in a report that will be finalized by the end of 2018.
WP6 activities assess ecological impacts and environmental benefits of large scale seaweed cultivation. Preliminary data from benthic habitat surveys indicates near-bottom irradiance under the farm higher than distant controls, suggesting potential effect of seaweed in reducing water turbidity. To assess the magnitude of gene flow between farms and wild populations the evolution of genetic diversity of wild populations neighbouring farms is being followed using the molecular tools developed in WP2.
WP7 in charge of all kind of communication activities of the project via Genialg web site, social networks. All scheduled network-wide events have been organized as planned and the development of the GENIALG project website www.genialgproject.eu, contributes to advertise the dissemination and communication activities of all partners.
Now that every partner has started to contribute in the respective tasks in which it is involved, synergies between the different projects and consortium partners are increasingly being exploited.

Final results

GENIALG is creating impact through the use of exploitable knowledge to adapt existing tools and methodologies and develop novel, marketable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies and production systems. The following examples illustrate the progress beyond the state of the art that could improve the economic and technological feasibility of biomass production and extraction at a pilot scale:
• Breeding using molecular methods was hardly attempted in the past for seaweed cultivation. Thanks to advanced technologies and expert geneticists within the consortium, major genetic resources and tools are available for the improvement of both Saccharina and Ulva cultivation.
• Harvesting/storage: Development of harvesting equipment and storage at sea, pressing, silage, and other techniques will decrease the final cost of kelp production and loss of biomass quality during transportation.
• Mechanisation: For on-land cultivation systems of green algae, the use of mechanised harvesting reduces the final cost of production, as it decreases reliance on labour.
• Novel marine enzymes have been proven more efficient in releasing targeted molecules during seaweed biomass fractionation than traditional commercial enzymes. The production of these enzymes has already reached pilot scale and will provide sufficient material for the cracking of seaweed at a prototype scale of the proposed biorefinery.
The GENIALG project foresees significant potential impact in three key areas:
- Shifting the biomass production from harvested to farmed production.
- Increase stakeholder engagement and societal acceptance of sustainable algal biomass productions. Since the launch of the project, several actions have been undertaken at each of partner sites to bring together the coastal economic communities (e.g. fisheries, tourism), national conservation organisations, environmental groups and local stakeholders.
- Creating new jobs in emerging sectors as a result of increased supply of tools and technology to seaweed farms, processing plants and in the commercialisation of seaweed compounds

Website & more info

More info: http://genialgproject.eu.