Why algae?
Algae are considered a sustainable source of raw materials for a bio-based economy. They can build up biomass with the help of sunlight as an energy source and environmentally harmful CO2 as a carbon source. With their great diversity and ingredients that do not occur in plants and other microorganisms, or only in small quantities, they offer enormous potential for the industrial production of food and animal feed, cosmetic additives, active pharmaceutical ingredients, fine chemicals, biopolymers and nanostructured materials. An advantage is that the production of algae biomass in photobioreactors does not require arable land, is possible all year round, independent of weather conditions and enables biomass yields that are 5-10 times higher than those of vascular plants. To date, the high costs and energy inputs required to produce, harvest and process algal biomass have prevented the commercial production of low-priced products such as platform chemicals and biofuels. For this reason, the commercial use of microalgae has so far focused on a few strains, which are mainly marketed in the form of whole-cell biomass as food and feed or as high-value products such as omega-3 fatty acids (as a fish oil substitute), vegan proteins and bioactive algal pigments such as astaxanthin, phycocyanin and fucoxanthin.
© AG Griehl
