Descrizione del progetto
Dalle alghe, una fonte alternativa e naturale di proteine
Poiché la domanda di proteine destinate al consumo umano e ai mangimi animali è in aumento, l’UE deve importare ogni anno 30 milioni di tonnellate di soia, rendendosi così dipendente dalla soia importata. L’attuale fonte di proteine sta diventando insostenibile per l’Europa da un punto di vista economico e ambientale, con conseguenti preoccupazioni sul futuro della sicurezza alimentare. Pertanto, si assiste a una crescente richiesta di proteine alternative naturali a basso costo. Il progetto ALEHOOP, finanziato dall’UE, dimostrerà a titolo sperimentale bioraffinerie sostenibili di macroalghe e legumi, allo scopo di estrarre proteine alimentari dalla biomassa residuale di alghe e piante, da destinare poi ai mangimi animali in qualità di proteine naturali alternative. Il progetto si prefigge di ridurre la dipendenza dell’UE dalle proteine importate e di aumentare la sicurezza delle materie prime.
Obiettivo
ALEHOOP provides the demonstration at pilot scale of both sustainable macroalgae and legume-based biorefineries for the recovery of low-cost dietary proteins from alga-based and plant residual biomass and their validation to meet market requirements of consumers and industry in the food and feed sectors. In these sectors, consumers are demanding affordable functional natural proteins from alternative sources and industry is demanding low-cost bio-based protein formulations with better performance and higher sustainability.
Current protein demand for the 7.3 billion inhabitants of the world is approximately 202 Mt. Due to the rise in meat consumption more proteins are therefore required for animal feeding. To satisfy the current protein demand, Europe imports over 30 Mt of soy from the Americas each year mainly for animal feeding, entailing 95% dependency of EU on imported soy. Current sources of proteins are becoming unsustainable from an economic and environmental perspective for Europe resulting in concerns for sustainability and food security and leading to search for new alternative proteins.
ALEHOOP addresses the obtaining of proteins from green macroalgal blooms, brown seaweed by-products from algae processors and legume processing by-products (peas, lupines, beans and lentils) as alternative protein sources for animal feeding (case of green seaweed) and food applications (case of brown seaweed and legume by-products), since they are low cost and under-exploited biomass that do not compete with traditional food crops for space and resources. This will reduce EU´s dependency on protein imports and contribute to our raw material security. The new proteins will be validated in foods for elderly, sporty and overweight people, vegetarians and healthy consumers as well as for animal feed creating cross-sectorial interconnection between these value chains and supporting the projected business plan.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- agricultural sciencesagricultural biotechnologybiomass
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedslegumes
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandryanimal feed
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.2.1.4. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Biotechnology
- H2020-EU.3.2.6. - Bio-based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBI-JTI)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
IA - Innovation actionCoordinatore
28021 Madrid
Spagna
L’organizzazione si è definita una PMI (piccola e media impresa) al momento della firma dell’accordo di sovvenzione.