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
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
5525 Haugesund
Norway
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.