ALG-AD takes part in ReThink Protein competition in Belgium
Posted onWith a first prize of €5000, the ALG-AD project will be represented alongside 20 finalists in the ReThink Protein Challenge on Thursday 27th June. Read More
What is ALG-AD?
ALG-AD is a Interreg NWE funded project in which new technology is being developed to take excess waste nutrients produced from anaerobic digestion of food and farm waste to cultivate algal biomass for animal feed and other products of value.
ALG-AD brings together a group of scientists and engineers from 11 different partners in four countries across North West Europe. These academics are working together with industry to develop a circular economy solution to create wealth from waste.
Why is the project necessary?
There is an urgent need to develop sustainable food and farming.
North West Europe is a densely populated and intensely agricultural area. It thus contributes disproportionately to food and farm waste produced in the EU each year.
Increasing amounts of food and farm waste are processed using anaerobic digestion (AD). AD converts waste to biogas used for energy and a liquid nutrient rich digestate, most of which is returned to land as a biofertiliser.
However, there are strict limits on the amount of digestate which is allowed to be put back on agricultural land. Strict limits are imposed with EU legislation and so-called Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. This is increasingly creating excess unwanted nutrients.
The ability to use these excess nutrients to produce new products presents a circular economy solution.
How can ALG-AD help?
ALG-AD combines algal and AD technology. Microalgae, mainly photosynthetic microorganisms will be cultivated, converting the unwanted nutrients into biomass. The cultivated algal biomass is rich in protein and other useful compounds, and can be used to generate sustainable animal feed products and other useful bio-products.
What is ALG-AD doing?
ALG-AD has completed three pilot facilities construction at 3 distinct ‘real life conditions locations in North West Europe: Devon (UK), Ghent (Be) and Brittany (Fr). Each facility used local conditions to grow the algae and record results. Information from the three pilots is used to generate Decision Support Tools. These tools together with a demonstration to stakeholders promote the adoption of the new technology.
The valorisation of produced algal biomass will be achieved through the animal feed preparation. The process of hydrolysation of algal biomass with the assessment of pathogens and heavy metals level, permitting to use this biomass for the animal (piglet and fish) nutrition trials.
25 Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat
Ghent
9000
Belgium
P.O. Box 3640
Karlsruhe 12
76131
Germany
1 Curzon Street
Birmingham
B4 7XG
United Kingdom
1 Higher Challonsleigh
Plymouth
PL7 5AY
United Kingdom
223 Derbystraat
Ghent
9051
Belgium
La Géraudière Rue P. A. Bobierre
Nantes
44939 Cedex 9
France
3 rue des Archives
Brest
29238
France
1 Rue Dumont d'Urville
Plouzané
29280
France
BP 53
Ploufragan
22440
France
7 Rue de la Jeannaie Maroue
Lambelle
22400
France
1 Singleton Park
Swansea
SA28PP
United Kingdom
Lead partner
Organisation | Address | Website | |
---|---|---|---|
Swansea University |
1 Singleton Park Swansea SA28PP United Kingdom |
c.a.llewellyn@swansea.ac.uk | www.swansea.ac.uk |
Name | Contact Name | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Universiteit Gent | Marcella Fernandes de Souza | Marcella.FernandesDeSouza@UGent.be | Belgium |
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie | Christine Rösch | christine.roesch@kit.edu | Germany |
Birmingham City University | Lynsey Melville | Lynsey.Melville@bcu.ac.uk | United Kingdom |
Langage AD | Daniel Langton | daniel.langton@langagefarm.com | United Kingdom |
INNOLAB | Bernard Willems | bernard.willems@innolab.be | Belgium |
Association des Chambres d'Agriculture de l'Arc Atlantique | Pascal Dagron | contact@ac3a.chambagri.fr | France |
Université de Bretagne Occidentale | Denis de la Broise | denis.de-labroise@univ-brest.fr | France |
Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | Philippe Soudant | philippe.soudant@univ-brest.fr | France |
Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail | Alassane Keita | Alassane.KEITA@anses.fr | France |
Cooperl arc Atlantique | Barbara Clement-Larosiere | barbara.clement-larosiere@cooperl.com | France |
With a first prize of €5000, the ALG-AD project will be represented alongside 20 finalists in the ReThink Protein Challenge on Thursday 27th June. Read More
Key members of the ALG-AD project team based in Swansea have been asked to Guest Edit a Special Issue of the ‘Metabolites’ journal, focusing on improving the understanding and available knowledge of the metabolomics of algae. Read More
Two of ALG-AD’s three pilot plants have now been commissioned and inoculated for the first time, with the first harvests from the pilots expected some time in April. During several months of hard work, the teams have designed, constructed and commissioned the pilot facilities at each location. These innovative systems combines large-scale algal cultivation facilities with anaerobic digestion. Read More
The first of ALG-AD’s three large scale pilot photobioreactors has been inoculated for the first time at Langage AD in Plymouth, Devon. The algae culture was transported from Swansea University on Tuesday morning (12th March). Initial readings are positive, and the algae appears to be settling in to its new environment. Read More
The UK Government’s new Clean Air Strategy could benefit from the work being done by ALG-AD Read More
ALG-AD joins with six other projects in a unique cluster to jointly promote and support the work being undertaken by each other. Read More
Partners from across the ALG-AD project come together in Gatwick for third partners meeting Read More
French reactor construction update Read More
Seven modules of the reactor are installed at Langage Read More
This video looks at progress being made to date on the first of three photobioreactors being built for the ALG-AD project. Read More