According to a series of recent and classic international studies and reports, world population growth - along with the effects of climate change - will end in a reduction of food, energy and pharmaceutical resources, while increasing air, water and ground pollution at the same time. Higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere, along with a deterioration in food quality production might have dramatic consequences not only on the EU population, economy and way of life, but also on the rest of the world.
One of the possible solutions to lighten the burden of such challenging and possibly long-lasting problems is an increase in the cultivation and production of microalgae to be used for food, energy and pharmaceutical purposes. The business opportunity consists in the construction of an innovative production plant integrating highly performing algae cultivation in high-tech photobioreactors (PCBs) able to capture and reuse huge amounts of CO2 with a syngas CHP using self-produced wood chips as a source of carbon, required for the photosynthetic process of microalgae, while its heat will be used for the thermal control of algal cultures and for heating/cooling of the company premises. In short, the proposed innovative business project is a zero-emission, environmental-friendly, highly productive farm supplying the EU and world markets with all-in-one food, energy and pharmaceutical products.
The project aims at the construction of a pilot plant for the cultivation and production of microalgae to be used for food, energy and pharmaceutical purposes. The extraction process of the cultivated algal biomass produces a very high quality dry substance, which can be used for the following purposes: production of quality fertilizers; enrichment of livestock feed; organic matrix for anaerobic digestion plants; palletizable biomass for combustion; food supplements for pharmaceutical use.
The main kind of activity which will be carried out in the proposed project regards innovative agriculture, notably cultivation of microalgae in water, inside transparent plastic fiber structures arranged in strings, positioned in traditional glass-steel/plastic greenhouses. The algae growth in the PBRs takes place by photosynthesis and then through sequestration of CO2 injected into the PBRs by means of cylinders.
