💡Industrial Plankton’s successful gametophyte bioreactor trial
PLUS: 💸 €12 million algae innovation project launches in Europe and Cascadia Seaweed gains funding from the B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy.
"The cosmetics industry has realised that the future of the industry is one that must be sustainable." — Jeff Yeh, Vice President of Personal Care at Carbonwave
Dear algae technologists - hello and welcome to the Paxtier Report!
To start the email this week, check out this awesome update from the Notpla team:
In today’s report:
Markets: 💸 €12 million algae innovation project launched in Europe.
Deals: 🤝 Cascadia Seaweed gains funding from the B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy.
Movers and Shakers: 💡 Industrial Plankton’s successful gametophyte bioreactor trial.
Around the web: 🌍 Ocean-fertilising bacteria work together to adapt to light levels.
Markets and Investing
💡Industrial Plankton’s successful gametophyte bioreactor trial
Founded in 2010, Industrial Plankton Inc. designs and manufactures turnkey bioreactors in Canada for clean, on-site, live algae production for aquaculture, research lab, and biotechnology uses. The company’s technology is optimised for reliability, ease of use, and biosecurity. And in this episode we’re thrilled to bring you the latest exciting update from the team.
THE BIG NEWS
Industrial Plankton is pleased to announce completion of a contract to test their Seaweed Gametophyte Bioreactors with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). The contract was awarded through the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program. This innovative product is designed to help researchers and seaweed farmers increase their yield and productivity, and stabilise the reliability of seaweed seed production.
Seaweed Gametophyte Bioreactors (SBRs) are a state-of-the-art product to make the production of seaweed gametophytes/sporophytes easy and reliable. The product offers independently controlled temperature enclosures, closed-loop pH control with automated CO₂ dosing, and an internal motorised blade for biosecure fragmentation.
Another important feature is real-time data logging and graphing. The user-friendly interface and visualisation allow researchers and industry professionals to gain valuable insights and optimise their culture in the SBRs.
Through the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program, researchers at NRC’s Marine Research Station in Ketch Harbour, NS, were able to operate and test the SBRs over a nine-month period and provide feedback on the full operation of the system and its ease of use, from gametophyte cultivation to sporophyte seedling production.
"We are excited to launch our Seaweed Gametophyte Bioreactors, and make seed supply reliable for the seaweed industry. This is similar to what we have done for the shellfish industry, where our microalgae bioreactors are supporting over half the shellfish hatcheries in North America. With this new SBR technology, we will support the seaweed industry in the same way" said Industrial Plankton CEO, Robert Roulston.
"Our company has been developing and producing microalgae bioreactors since 2010. We used our expertise in biosecurity and automation and applied it to macroalgae. Our new Seaweed Gametophyte Bioreactors have been in development for 3 years, and represent a critical tool to support sustainable growth of the seaweed industry.”
For more information about these Seaweed Gametophyte Bioreactors and how they can benefit seaweed researchers and industry, please visit the Industrial Plankton website or contact the team at +1-250-889-5075.
✂️Algae Market Snippets
Some more big moves in recent weeks…
General
🏛️ European Blue Economy report 2023: economic crisis takes a toll but doesn't stop the growth (Read more HERE).
💸 $8.5 million boost for aquaculture research and development over the next four years to drive aquaculture research and development across Western Australia (Read more HERE).
🌊 More info about the €12 million algae innovation project launched in Europe. The Submariner Network has launched a major innovation project which will develop, test and scale up new sustainable products from algae (Read more HERE).
Macroalgae
💸 Cascadia Seaweed accelerates the commercialisation of large-scale agrifeed and biostimulant products with funding from the B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (Read more HERE).
🏆 Asparagopis producer lands place on Swiss accelerator. Australian Asaparagopsis company SeaStock has been selected to participate in the MassChallenge Switzerland 2023 accelerator programme (Read more HERE).
📈 Kelp wanted: Interest in kelp farming grows in Atlantic Canada. Nova Scotia’s fisheries department says there’s been a boom in applications for kelp farming, but many still face barriers growing golden leaves under the sea (Read more HERE).
🤝 Innovasea helps Petros Aquaculture get approval for Aruba’s first open-ocean fish farm (Read more HERE).
🌱 Ecological Laboratories announces solution for sargassum odour reduction and composting (Read more HERE).
🤝 BIG envisions self-sufficient, off-grid island for sustainable clothing brand in nova scotia. BIG has teamed up with clothing brand Vollebak on a design vision for a self-sufficient, off-grid residential island in Nova Scotia, Canada dubbed the ‘home of adventure’ (Read more HERE).
📈 Expansion of Marrawah business to help keep up with kelp demand. This business that processes kelp to produce fertiliser and horse feed has plans to expand and hopes of being an industry leader when it comes to drying seaweed (Read more HERE).
🐕 Blue Pet Co unveils seaweed supplements for dogs. The company states that the supplements are made from one of ‘only a handful’ of bioprocessing processes in the world and the ‘only one of its kind’ in Europe (Read more HERE).
📈 Q&A: Carbonwave expands seaweed emulsifier as demand grows. Biotech company Carbonwave has made waves with the world’s first seaweed-derived cosmetic emulsifier, and will be expanding production facilities to better meet demand following a sizeable company investment (Read more HERE).
🌱 Preparing for the worst with a kelp seed bank. In Washington State, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s new preservation facility offers a back-up plan for an uncertain future (Read more HERE).
Microalgae
🏆 LSU faculty awarded patent for miniature light that boosts algae production. Two LSU faculty members were recently awarded a patent for a miniature, self-powered light that boosts the production of algae (Read more HERE).
🤝 Aboriginal-owned Spinifex brewery and Murdoch University team up to turn waste into profit (Read more HERE).
🤝 AlgaEnergy about to successfully complete its restructuring process through the sale and incorporation of its agricultural business unit into the multinational DE SANGOSSE (Read more HERE).
🌱 ZIVO’s GRAS designation reaffirmed for proprietary algal biomass product as a human food ingredient (Read more HERE).
🏆 New Designers presents 10 award-winning fashion and textiles projects. Clothing informed by Brutalism and a biomaterial that combines crotchet and algae are included in Dezeen's latest school show by New Designers (Read more HERE).
🐦Tweet of the week
🔥 What else was hot in algae tech this week?
General
🌍 More anthropogenic bromoform found in lower atmosphere than thought (Read more HERE).
🌱 Semafor Net Zero: Algae's climate comeback. Algae and seaweed do have a lot of promise as a climate solution — just not as a replacement for gasoline (Read more HERE).
Macroalgae
🌱 Streetwear made from preserved seaweed shows algae's future in fashion at reykjavik edition (Read more HERE).
🌱 Seaweed Revolution: Latest food & packaging solutions ahead of World Oceans Day. The potential of algae as an environmental safeguard is being increasingly realised, so take a look at innovators using seaweed to overcome the world’s sustainability challenges (Read more HERE).
🌊 Meet the climate startup turning a 5,000-mile stretch of seaweed from a plague of coastal communities into a giant carbon store. A look at Seaweed Generation (Read more HERE).
🌱 Seaweed could avert food crisis caused by extreme weather. Scientists believe Ulva can become a staple crop via undersea farming – once people acquire a taste for it (Read more HERE).
🌊 Join me in an upcoming webinar: State of the Seaweed Industry - Peter Green, Paxtier webinar q/a (Read more HERE).
🌊 Be one of the Seaweed Gang! 🌱🤝 This is a free group chat set-up by Reiss Jones where we chat about new scientific papers, market insights, ideas, economics, and everything else in the world of macroalgae - feel free to join! 🔗 Join HERE.
🌱 The Vanishing Forest. Purple sea urchins are devouring California’s kelp forests, but scientists are working to put the ecosystem in balance (Read more HERE).
Microalgae
📝 (Paper) Soluble lectin LePin mediates alga recognition to initiate coral–algal endosymbiosis (Read more HERE).
🌊 Can growing algae in the desert help undo some of our damage to the climate? Start-up Brilliant Planet thinks so (Read more HERE).
🟢Safety of paramylon as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 (Read more HERE).
📝 (Paper) Influence of hydrothermal carbonization conditions on the porosity, functionality, and sorption properties of microalgae hydrochars (Read more HERE).
📝 (Paper) A biodegradable, flexible photonic patch for in vivo phototherapy (Read more HERE).
💪🏼 Nestlé and EPFL collaborate on biobased food packaging with Project BIOPACK (Read more HERE).
🟢 Illuminating the carbon cycle: Coccolithophores’ ability to absorb organic carbon (Read more HERE).
🟢 Ocean-fertilising bacteria work together to adapt to light levels. Trichodesmium, a kind of cyanobacterium that is vital to ocean ecosystems, forms colonies that work together and change shape to get the light and nutrients the microbe needs to grow (Read more HERE).
That’s all folks!
Thanks again for joining us this week. Hope you have a great day and stay tuned for more algae tech updates soon!
Best,
Peter