This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program

under the Grant Agreement No. 727874

Prof. F. Gabriel Acien

Dpt. Chemical Engineering, University of Almeria, SPAIN

Sustainable integrated Algae Biorefinery for

the production of bioactive compounds for

Agriculture aNd Aquaculture (SABANA)

Berlin, December 5-7th, 2017

Description of the project

Sustainable Algae Biorefinery for Agriculture aNd Aquaculture (SABANA)

Call H2020-BG-2016-2017

Blue Growth - Demonstrating an ocean of opportunities

Organism European Commission

Topic/Type/Budget BG-01-2016, Innovation action, 10,5 M€

Duration (months) 48

Fixed keywords Bioproducts (products that are manufactured using biological materials

and methods)

Free Keywords Biorefinery, Microalgae, Marine water, Large Scale, Biopesticides,

Biostimulants, Aquafeed, Wastewater

Objective

• Large scale production: Develop robust and scalable microalgae production and processing

processes, in continuous mode all the year around. Economic analysis limiting technologies.

• Sustainable production: To integrate the treatment of wastes to increase the sustainability of

the entire process. Life Cycle Analysis determines what is possible or not.

• Markets/commercialization: Only products now requested by the markets and that legally

accepted are considered. Business plan is the driver of the project.

Block diagram of the project

After ten months of activities0

Recent achievements

Market analysis

• Market of agriculture products is confirmed both for biostimulants and biopesticides,

in addition to biofertilizers

• Microalgae based products are scarce but highly appreciated, major problem being

the low amount of biomass available and high cost

Biomass production cost<10 €/kg

Minimum capacity>20 tn/year

Market analysis

Recent achievements

• Market of aquaculture is confirmed both as feed

additives and aquafeed

• Major bottlenecks are the low amount of biomass

available and high cost

Material €/t

Protein

content, % Protein cost, €/kg

Fish meal 60 1,400.00 € 60% 2.33 €

Fish meal by-products 1,400.00 € 60% 2.33 €

Fich meal 67 1,750.00 € 67% 2.61 €

Shrimp-meal 1,100.00 € 51% 2.16 €

Father meal 350.00 € 75% 0.47 €

Sunflower meal 30 190.00 € 30% 0.63 €

Sunflower meal 36 240.00 € 37% 0.65 €

Soy meal 475.00 € 50% 0.95 €

Poultry meal 650.00 € 65% 1.00 €

Blood meal 950.00 € 95% 1.00 €

Guar meal 50 460.00 € 43% 1.07 €

Guar meal 60 560.00 € 52% 1.08 €

Soy conc. Prot. 860.00 € 61% 1.41 €

Corn Gluten 860.00 € 56% 1.54 €

Weath Gluten 1,500.00 € 79% 1.90 €

Biomass production cost<2 €/kg

Minimum capacity>100 tn/year

Integrated Simulation Tool (IST) of overall process

Recent achievements

Boundary conditions:

Location, day of the year, type of

reactor, geometry, strain, water

type, nutrients source, etc..

Biological

model

Engineering

model

Overall simulation of the process

Engineering:

Equipment, size of equipment,

nutrients requirement, water

consumption, energy,

land/water

Economy:

Overall investment, unit

production cost, total

operation cost, manpower,

returns

Sustainability:

Inventory (inputs-outputs),

energy, land, water,

nutrients, emissions,

impacts

BUSINESS PLAN –DECISION MAKING

Recent achievements

BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

DEMO5: 5 ha overall surface

Location: Almeria, Spain

Production: 300 ton/year

Technology: Raceway/TLC

Water: seawater/sewage

Nutrients: wastewaters

CO2: flue gases

OPERATION CONDITIONS:

Automatic processes

Continuous culture

Wet biomass avoiding drying

Production of biofertilizers

Recycling water/nutrients

Full utilization of the biomass

ZERO EMISSIONS process

Integrated Simulation Tool (IST) of overall process

Biomass production cost

Recent achievements

-

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

RW+fertilizers RW-sewage RW-centrate RW-manure

Pro

du

cti

on

co

st,

€/k

g

Raceway

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

TL+fertilizers TL-sewage TL-centrate TL-manure

Pro

du

cti

on

co

st,

€kg

Thin-layer

• Production cost below 2 €/kg is possible only when using nutrients from

wastewaters

• Production cost is lower when using Thin-Layer reactors due to the higher

productivity on these systems

Business plan

Recent achievements

• Market of agriculture products is much more interesting that aquaculture,

contribution of wastewater treatment being minor

• Thin-Layer are much more interesting by its higher productivity

- 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000

Biostimulant+biofertilizer

Biopesticides+biofertilizer

Feed additive+aquafeed

Incomes, k€/year

Raceway Premium

High

Regular

- 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000

Biostimulant+biofertilizer

Biopesticides+biofertilizer

Feed additive+aquafeed

Incomes, k€/year

Thin-layer Premium

High

Regular

0 50 100 150 200

RW+sewage

RW+centrate

RW+manure

TL+sewage

TL+centrate

TL+manure

Incomes, €/year

CULTURE

MEDIUM

BIOMASS

PRODUCTION

BIOMASS

HARVESTING

BIOMASS

PROCESSING

INPUTS INPUTS INPUTS INPUTS

OUTPUTS OUTPUTS OUTPUTS OUTPUTS

ΣINPUTSBUILD-UP

OPERATION

ΣOUTPUTS

Life Cycle Analysis

Recent achievements

• Methodology for Life Cycle Assessment of whatever design/process has been

implemented, it being a dynamic tool to perform complete LCA

• Major impacts are related with water and nutrients utilization

Life Cycle Analysis

Recent achievements

UNIVERSITY

R&D

PRODUCTION

DEMO1 Basic engineering

Recent achievements

54

00

.00

35

60

0.0

05

40

0.0

0

50

0.0

03

01

00

.00

50

40

0.0

0

45

50

0.0

0

48

31

6.4

9

42

18

8.2

4

Volume Surface Dilution, 1/day Harvest Sludge Production

Stage Objective Description m3 m2 1/day m3/day m3/day kg/month

I Inoculum BC/TPBR 9.88 277 0.30 3.0 0.03 166

II Development RW/TLC 50.22 540 0.30 15.1 0.15 324

III Scale-up RW/TLC 131.24 1411 0.30 39.4 0.39 847

TOTAL 191.35 2228 0.30 57.4 0.57 1337

R&D Facility

Recent achievements

Improved raceway reactor CFD MODELLING: 500 m2 OPEN RACEWAY

Recent achievements

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

ADVANTAGES

Installation:• No concrete

• Low cost of materials (<3 €/m2)

• Low manpower required

Operation:• Full automatic

• Low energy demand (<10 W/m3)

• Mass transfer optimized

• Fluid-dynamic optimized

Recent achievements

Improved raceway reactor

Biomass harvesting

Recent achievements

• Preconcentration step is mandatory at large scale due

• However, a final dewatering step is always mandatory to achieve final concentration

of 100 g/L suitable for further processing

• Although floc+sed+filtration is optimal, the utilization of centrifugation as final

dewatering step is selected

Biomass rec. (%) Conc. Factor Energy (kWh/m3)

Centrifugation 95% 43 1.00

Filtration 100% 30 0.50

Flocculation + Sedimentation 97% 7 0.10

Floc + Sed + Filtration 97% 73 0.13

Floc + Sed + Centrifugation 92% 58 0.15

WET

BIOMASS

CELL

DISRUPTION

ENZYMATIC

HYDROLISIS

LOW VALUE

BIOFERTILIZER

LIQUID

EXTRACTION

CELL

DISRUPTION

HIGH VALUE

BIOSTIMULANTS

HIGH VALUE

BIOPESTICIDES

WET

BIOMASS

CELL

DISRUPTION

STABILIZATION

PROCESS

LOW VALUE

AQUAFEED

LIQUID

EXTRACTION

CELL

DISRUPTIONBIOACTIVE

CONCENTRATES

AQUACULTURE PRODUCTS

Processing strategies

AGRICULTURE PRODUCTS

Recent achievements

Cell disruption step

• Cell disruption step is fully dependent of strain/biomass

• Energy consumption of Ultrasounds is excessive, the utilization of HPH being

recomended, other methods being not suitable at large scale0

Energy content of the biomass (20 MJ/kg)

Recent achievements

• Increasing the number of passes favoured

the hydrolysis degree

• Cellulase is effective when combining with

HPH

• Enzymatic hydrolysis does not require fully

disruption of the biomass

Enzymatic hydrolysis

Recent achievements

Selection of strains

Recent achievements

Collection Strains Biostimulants Biopesticides Aquaculture Selected

SZE 21 freshwater green microalgae

24 freshwater cyanobacteria

10

5

5

5

5

0

3

2

BEA 10 seawater green microalgae

10 seawater cyanobacteria

5

3

2

3

8

2

3

2

Biostimulant effect of MACC-683 strain on watercress seed germination at 0.5 mg/mL (left);

phytotoxic effect of MACC-307 strain on watercress seed germination at 0.5 mg/mL (right);

control with distilled water (center)

Selection of strains

Recent achievements

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

SABANA-1

SABANA-2

SABANA-3

SABANA-4

SABANA-5

SABANA-6

SABANA-7

SABANA-8

SABANA-9

SABANA-10

SABANA-11

SABANA-12

Xanthomonas campestris

Clavibacter michiganensis

Rhizoctonia solani

Phytophthora capsici

Fusarium oxysporum

Pythium ultimun

Performance of selected strains using wastewaters

Control-Arnon Bristol Fertilizantes aguas residuales 100% Purines 10%

0,0

0,1

0,2

0,3

0,4

0,5

0,6

0,7

Bio

ma

ss p

rod

uct

ivit

y,

g/L

·da

y

Recent achievements

• Microalgae extracts produced enhances the

performance of ornamental cultures.

• Extracts of Scendesmus were more effective that

produced using Spirulina without additional formulations

Validation of agriculture products

Recent achievements

Validation of aquaculture products

Recent achievements

MICROALGAE SUPPLEMENTED DIETS FOR SENEGALESE SOLE

Ultraestructural study

Transmision electron microscopy (TEM) images

Microvilli lenght(µm) Microvilli absorption surface (µm2)

COM 1.33 ± 0.10 a 27.5 ± 1.70 a

CT 1.38 ± 0.17 a 28.8 ± 3.25 a

ISO 1.57 ± 0.16 b 39.1 ± 3.44 b

NAN 1.99 ± 0.25 c 45.9 ± 3.68 c

SCE 1.35 ± 0.25 a 26.3 ± 10.4 a

CTCOM ISO NAN SCE

None of the dietary treatments cause damage in the brush border integrity of intestinal mucosa

ISO and NAN-fed fish showed significant

increase in microvilii length and microvilli

absorption surface compared to fish fed

microalgae-free diets

SABANASustainable Algae Biorefinery for Agriculture aNd Aquaculture

www.eu-sabana.eu | info@sabana.eu @sabana.eu

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