Disrupting the food ingredient and protein markets: a breakthrough technology for large-scale microalgae cultivation.

Projektinformationen

Biosolar Leaf

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 190186816

DOI

10.3030/190186816

Projekt abgeschlossen

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 13 April 2022

Startdatum 1 Januar 2022

Enddatum 31 Dezember 2023

Finanziert unter

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Gesamtkosten

€ 3 355 533,75

EU-Beitrag

€ 2 348 873,00

Koordiniert durch

ARBOREABIOFOODS LDA
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Biosolar Leaf (Disrupting the food ingredient and protein markets: a breakthrough technology for large-scale microalgae cultivation.)

Berichtszeitraum: 2023-01-01 bis 2023-12-31

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

The global population recently surpassed 7 billion and is projected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. Food demand is expected to increase to 3B tons in 2050, an increase of 43% compared to 2009. This in turn will have dramatic consequences not only on humans’ health that will consume lower quality food produced by means of less capital-intensive techniques, but also on the earth that will be strained by climate change, increasing drought frequency and severity, soil depletion and disease, and water pollution. Ensuring sustainable sources of food in light of these issues is of critical importance for society as well as the environment. Food companies are therefore turning to alternative methods of food production to meet the growing demands and regularly use artificial food ingredients to provide necessary levels of protein and nutrients.
Arborea has developed the BioSolar Leaf, a breakthrough cultivation system which harnesses microalgae and sunlight to produce healthy, sustainable natural food ingredients. Microalgae has great potential for cultivation as they contain lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, micronutrients, antioxidants and can be cultivated under harsh climatic environments. The BioSolar Leaf cultivation system is a sustainable ground-breaking algae cultivation system that enables complete control of ideal culturing parameters for the production of natural food ingredients. Arborea’s ingredients are wholly vegan, clean, Non-GMO, and the technology permits a sterile cultivation that eliminates external contamination, to produce the cleanest and purest ingredients. During the feasibility assessment, Arborea will size the market, establish a go-to-market strategy and a supply chain. BioSolar Leaf will then be validated in collaboration with industry partners to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

Arborea successfully completed the design, engineering and installation of the BioSolar Leaf demonstration facility. With this achievement Arborea was able to pass from a prototype scale to a 100m2 BioSolar Leaf fully functional facility
Demonstration and validation of the claims were concluded successfully showing that Arborea’s proprietary technology yields better productivities than the alternative technologies available, at a lower cost and with carbon neutrality.
Several food ingredients products were developed. Two of these products aim to replace the already existing ones at a lower cost and higher quality. The third one is novel and intends to breakthrough the market due to its innovative properties.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

Over the course of the project Arborea achieved the following results:
• A new design of the BioSolar Leaf cultivation technology;
• The successful installation of a 100m2 demonstration facility;
• A successful field trial of the demonstration facility for a period longer than 12 months;
• Optimized formulation and extraction processes for functional protein products.

Arborea food ingredients with related applications