BIOALGAL will develop a new generation of microalgal extracts addressed to health conscious consumers. The extracts will be of high purity produced with high-yield photobioreactors and will allow the European producers to gain a competitiveness advantage.
Strategic objectives addressed
The major technological challenges of this research project are:
1) Fermentation with common and safe microalgae (in particular Isochrysis spp, Haematococcus pluvialis, Dunaliella salina);
2) High-yield extraction of natural substances such as vitaminic and non-vitaminic antioxidants capable of exerting interesting functional properties, carotenoids, fatty acids or soothing agents and minerals such as magnesium;
3) Extraction of compounds with a superior purity compared to the current products available on the market, thanks to the supercritic fluid extration technology;
4) Development of indoor photobioreactors, which make it possible to have a higher control of parameters as compared to the outdoor reactors. The increased control allows to avoid contamination and to steer the fermentation process according to species-specific needs for facilitating the production of targeted high-value compounds.
Proposal abstract
This research project aims to produce bioactive compounds of commercial interest mainly to the nutraceutical and cosmoceutical industries through the development of a high-quality, safe and efficient technology for the exploitation of the biological wealth produced by micoralgae. The key technological aspect faced by this project concern the set up of an indoor fermentation technology which allows to best modulate the fermentation parameters towards the production of commercially high value compounds.
In order to identify the most suitable compounds to focus on, the project will start with a study about fine tuning the key issues on competitive advantages and regulatory issues. This information will increase the feasibility and success rate of the subsequent major technological activities.
Concerning the technological workpackages, they are divided into two main blocks: the first is focused to the microalgae strains, their fermentation technology and indoor equipment and the second concerns the extraction process based on Supercritical Fluid Extraction technology. Both activities will concentrate on searching solutions to the maximisation of quality of compounds and efficiency of processes and will arrive up to the construction of a pilot plant where to run the process. The pilot level is very important in fermentation processes since the scale affects the performance of the fermentation stage and so the production of the compounts of interest.
In order to evaluate the extracted compounds, application tests will be performed in a cosmetics production process. Extracted compounds will be assessed during the application in cosmetic products and feedback will be given in terms of quality, safety and competitive evaluation. This input will be precious to fine-tune the fermentation and extraction process in order to increase its suitability for the application of the compunds obtained in the cosmetic but also in the larger spectrum of nutraceutical and food supplements sectors.
Partner di progetto
- Tecnoalimenti (Co-ordinator) – Italy
- Exenia srl – Italy
- Leitat Technological Center – Spain – Catalonia
- Mesosystem – Spain: Catalonia
