Inês Oliveira 1 , Andreína Azevedo 1, Margarida Martins 1, Madalena Mendes 1,2, Rosa Melo 1, Andreia Rego1, Helena Abreu1
1 ALGAplus, Produção e Comercialização de Algas e seus derivados Lda. PCI-Via do Conhecimento, 3830-352 Ílhavo, Portugal
2 GreenCoLAB, Associação Oceano Verde, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Over the last decade, ALGAplus Ltd. has been cultivating organic certified Atlantic seaweed, in a land-based IMTA system. Using nutrient-rich effluent from its own organic farming operation of European seabream and seabass, ALGAplus produces Atlantic seaweed species in a free-floating tank|raceway cultivation system for the global food and cosmetic markets. Pioneer in Europe, we settle our industrial development on research, with several partnerships and project participations.
In 2013 and 2014, the company started cultivation trials of Codium tomentosum and Palmaria palmata, developing its own vegetative free-floating production protocols of these species. These include a nursery phase, under controlled temperature and light conditions, and an outdoor phase in tanks up to 20. With a current annual maximal production of 0.6t (fw) for Codium and 1.1 t (fw) for Palmaria, 2023 goals are 2t- and 3-t, respectively.
The future strategy for optimization of OPEX and yield increase for C. tomentosum follows through sexual reproduction protocols, as well as the viability of long line/net floating structures in earthen ponds; this is currently ongoing in the Aquavitae project. For P. palmata, the limiting development factor for year-round commercial-scale cultivation at ALGAplus (PT) has been the water temperature in warmer months. The project Sølkelp is tackling this issue by testing our land-based cultivation protocols in Norway, through a partnership with Seaweed Solutions AS. With these steps, the company expects to take the lead in providing the EU market with sustainably farmed organic certified Palmaria and Codium biomass.