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Alginor's Ocean Refining Total utilisation Application

Project description

Growing more seaweed to satisfy demand

Already popular in Asia, edible seaweed is becoming a food of the future, and demand is growing. So, how do we satisfy this new appetite for these so-called sea vegetables? The EU-funded AORTA 2 project has found a solution to massively increase production. Currently, only 15 % of the harvested raw material is used by the seaweed industry. To increase use, the project will support a Norwegian SME in developing a utilisation strategy that can increase resource efficiency to 100 %. Specifically, the SME will develop and commercialise high-quality products from the seaweed Laminaria hyperborea through a revolutionary technology. What’s more, this new technology will produce no emissions; therefore, there will be no limitations on production.

Objective

Alginor, a Norwegian based SME, aims to develop and commercialise high-quality products from the seaweed Laminaria hyperborea (Lh) through a revolutionary technology – AORTA. There is a scarcity of high-quality seaweed products on today’s market, making it a customer pain point to be able to acquire enough products. State-of-the-art seaweed-industry only utilises about 15% of the harvested raw material and causes massive pollution in the process. Alginor’s increased resource efficiency, from 15% up towards 100%, will greatly increase the number of products for sale and eradicate emissions.
Alginor’s 100% utilisation strategy creates a product portfolio of 12 products, well above state-of-the-art’s average of 1-2 products. Our products will be of equal or higher quality than existing products, and letters of intent have already been signed with several big customers. In Norway there is an increasing concern for the environmental impact caused by emissions from the seaweed-industry which has led to some limitations on emissions. Alginor’s new technology will have none of these emissions and therefore no limitations on production.
Europe has the largest standing biomass of Lh of approximately 100 million tonnes. State-of-the-art only harvests around 150,000 tonnes of Lh due to the emission regulations, while there is a standing biomass of minimum 1.5 million tonnes open for harvesting each year; i.e. Alginor will be able to massively increase production. The expected impact for the targeted users will be a monumental increase in the availability of pure and high-quality seaweed-products without toxic chemicals. Alginor will create a greener and more profitable value chain that will disrupt Europe’s seaweed industry and potentially cause stricter regulations.
Within 3 years after project launch Alginor estimates an annual turnover of €16,5 million and more than 165 employments with a ROCE of 37,6%. Project duration: 18 months.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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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.

SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

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Call for proposal

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

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

ALGINOR ASA
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.

€ 1 939 262,50
Address
HARALDSGATA 162
5525 Haugesund
Norway

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SME

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

Yes
Region
Norge Vestlandet Rogaland
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.

€ 2 770 375,00
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