Project Seeks to Obtain Food Ingredients from Algae
A joint research project to extract food ingredients from algae is being started by Dutch organization TNO and industrial algae producer Ingrepro Renewables BV. The extracted ingredients are healthy vegetable oils and mostly proteins and could be used as a sustainable substitute for meat.
If and how carbohydrates from algae can be used will also be analysed. Most algae-use initiatives now pertain to the oil’s potential to replace fossil fuels.
The two-year study aims to reveal how to extract the desired substances from the organisms on a large scale, prior to being processed into sustainable chemicals or fuel. The extraction process can breed an algae production method which is both profitable and environmentally responsible.
Ingrepro will take care of algae production and establishing the biorefinery process while TNO will create the technologies for extraction and refining the oil, proteins and carbohydrates and work on the ingredients’ possible applications.
