Objective
Calcium carbonate mines are one of the most impacting extraction activities, so stricter environmental regulations are pushing research for alternative sources of this mineral, of wide use in a variety of industries.
ICECAL founding team have been involved for over 15 years in the valorization of ocean resources. The shell of the Ocean Quahog Clam, which is neglected by fisheries and disposed as waste on land and sea, is almost pure (99.9%) calcium carbonate. We have built a processing line including an accurate quality control system for mass extraction of calcium from this clam to commercialize, calcium carbonate powder for calcium fortification of food products. The commercial name is BLUECAL. ICECAL production process consumes 95% less water and at least 30% less energy in form of electricity than extraction from mines.
We will target first the market of food products for convenience wellness, a €31 Billion business opportunity. BLUECAL incorporated to foods like bars, snacks can serve as ideal delivery systems for the bone-building nutrient, without any negative impact to the texture or taste. Consumers are opting for nutritive convenience foods and nutritionally fortified foods in place of traditional convenience and junk foods. The consumers of these products are willing to pay a price premium on the account of all-natural ingredients, making calcium fortification with BLUECAL a competitive advantage for our target customers.
BLUECAL will allow the reactivation in Iceland of the otherwise non-profitable ocean quahog fisheries, highly sustainable but which have ceased activity due to sharp reduction of clam market prices as seafood. The supply of the shell to ICECAL will provide 100% increase in harbor value, making these fisheries lucrative instead of zero profit industry.This model will be exported to other countries with Ocean Quahog fisheries and thus, with high potential for profiting from this otherwise undervalued resource.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systems
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheries
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compounds
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryalkaline earth metals
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
270 Mosfellsbaer
Iceland