Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Reusing Effluents from Agriculture to unLock the potential of Microalgae

Objective

REALM will transform nutrient-rich drain waters from soilless farms into value, by producing microalgae at reduced costs while treating water and capturing CO2 from the air. This concept will increase the circularity and profitability of microalgal production and soilless farming. The NordAqua and ALGACYCLE projects (NordForsk and EEA, respectively) have shown the feasibility of this concept in Finland and Portugal, and now REALM aims to demonstrate it at an industrial scale. Accordingly, two validation facilities will be installed in the Netherlands and Finland, and two demonstration facilities will be deployed in Portugal and Spain near soilless greenhouses. With know-how from the SABANA project (H2020), these facilities will operate photobioreactors under a turbidostatic regime (continuous harvest) for maximum productivity, using nutrient-rich wastewaters from the greenhouses. Growth and harvesting units will be powered by photovoltaic energy and automatically managed by novel sensors, while A.I.-based predictive models and a cloud-based monitoring system will assist production. Microalgal biomass will be processed by local downstream processing units using dairy industry supply chain as a working model. This concept will offer sustainable wastewater treatment technology to farmers by closing the nutrient loop and is expected to reduce microalgae production costs by >50%, whose savings will be used to increase the competitiveness of the proposed microalgae-based products, namely agrochemicals and aquafeed. A business model will be developed to propose the installation of multiple microalgae production facilities, next to soilless greenhouses, and connected to a centralised processing facility. The results generated by REALM will be disseminated so the demonstrated concept can be replicated by relevant stakeholders in all EU, while targeting several objectives established by the European Green Deal, such as working with nature to improve human health by promoting a greener industry.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2021-CIRCBIO-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

NECTON-COMPANHIA PORTUGUESA DE CULTURAS MARINHAS SA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 993 950,00
Address
BELAMANDIL SN
8700 152 Fuseta
Portugal

See on map

SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Continente Algarve Algarve
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 848 500,00

Participants (13)

Partners (2)

My booklet 0 0