📈 My outlook for algae bioremediation in 2024?

PLUS Zanzibar seaweed production on the up, and Inalve raises €2 million.

“Corbion’s portfolio is best analysed through the lens of a sum-of-the parts analysis, which we believe points to a fundamental value of nearly €30 ($33) relative to the company’s (about) €17 current share price. We believe Corbion’s complexity relative to its size serves as a significant impediment to thoughtful piece-by-piece evaluations of its various value drivers.” — Inclusive Capital Partners

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Dear seaweed and microalgae technologists, operators, and investors, welcome to another edition of the Paxtier Report!

Food for thought this week…

Despite being first described in the early 1950s, widespread implementation of algae bioremediation solutions has faced numerous challenges over the years, including:

(1) Challenging wastewater pre-treatment methods and characteristics,
(2) Ineffective cultivation, biomass harvesting, and valorisation methods,
(3) Difficult integration with existing infrastructure,
(4) Lack of incentives for major actors and buyers, and
(5) Poor public opinion, as highlighted recently by Professor Jagroop Pandhal from The University of Sheffield’s Pandhal Research Group on my post: “Public opinion is a big thing here. Getting even academics to look beyond the "biodiesel from algae era" is still a challenge in my opinion.”

But 2023 saw several positive market signals for the space: both for point-source and diffuse case studies.

A number of government departments, wastewater treatment organisations and water companies around the world showed renewed appetite. For example, the Department of Ecology, Washington, recently awarded $53 million dollars to support upgrades at the City of Pasco's Process Water Reuse Facility...

Pasco will invest in scaling pretreatment improvements at the facility, including new headworks, two new 35 million-gallon low-rate anaerobic digesters, and a rotating algae biofilm system to help remove nitrogen and phosphorus before the wastewater is sprayed on land treatment fields.

Another case study came from Northumbrian Water Group (NWG), which highlighted its microalgae wastewater treatment operation at the Bran Sands Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (AAD) facility.

Bran Sands is a large sludge treatment centre, industrial effluent treatment site and gas to grid facility. Currently, the treatment process generates a challenging effluent that is costly to treat and contributes around 30% of the 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emitted by the Bran Sands gas to grid plant every year.

Off the shelf treatment options all involve breaking down ammonium to nitrogen oxides (NOx) which are released as greenhouse gases.

“And through the implementation of an 8% scale microalgae plant, we can harness the remedial properties of microalgae meaning we will be able to reduce treatment costs by £170,000 a year, enhance biogas production, and significantly reduce our carbon footprint. We have already tested the treatment concept at smaller volumes and trialled different approaches and are now seeking to scale up the arrangements.” — NWG

Here's what Michael Henao - City of Pasco Environmental Compliance Coordinator - had to say about these algae systems:

“Treating industrial wastewater rich in BOD and Nitrogen is normally seen as a challenge. This is an opportunity to complete the industrial symbiotic loop by providing treatment to local industries, producing renewable natural gas and algae-based fertilizer, removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and closing the loop by providing water for agriculture use."

With all this in mind, my outlook for this area in 2024 and beyond remains positive. But advocacy and investment are as important as ever.

Do you agree with these points? Let me know what you think.

In today’s report…

Markets: 📈 Zanzibar seaweed production reportedly on the up.

Deals: 🤝 Inalve raises €2 million to accelerate biofilm-based microalgae production.

Movers and Shakers: 🌊 Greenwave highlights 2023 progress.

Around the web: 🌿 New study confirms seaweed and mussel farms improve biodiversity and abundance of marine life, New Zealand and the Gulf of Maine.

Markets and Investing

✂️Algae Market Snippets

Some big moves in recent weeks…

Macroalgae

💸 Chile hedging future aquaculture bets on diversifying outside of salmon production (Read more HERE).

🤝 Barbadian biotech firm partners with Barbados National Oil Company Ltd (BNOCL) to set up a pilot biogas service station (Read more HERE).

🌿 Mafar, Philippines starts the construction of seaweed tissue culture laboratory to boost seaweed industry in Barmm (Read more HERE).

🌿 Kajima Mass details developments in the production of anti-methanogenic Asparagopsis algae supplements (Read more HERE).

💸 With a $400,000 grant, Professor Emma Cross and her team are crafting educational pathways for Connecticut high schoolers, focusing on aquaculture (Read more HERE).

🌿ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) commercialises patent protected seaweed-based nutraceutical products (Read more HERE).

🌊 Updates on the United Kingdom’s current funding of Sargassum research in the Caribbean: SeaSinc project (Read more HERE).

🌿 Tanzania’s seaweed production increased by more than 52 percent year over year in Q3 2023 as the sector took advantage of higher prices and lower costs for export permits (Read more HERE). Some alternative numbers for Zanzibar were highlighted here.

🌊 Blue carbon gains momentum in Japan (Read more HERE).

🤝 Blumar has joined The Nature Conservancy Chile and the Universidad de Los Lagos in a project that aims to contribute to developing multi-trophic aquaculture (Read more HERE).

🤝 Greenwave highlights 2023 progress, with 6,000 users tapping into the free Regenerative Ocean Farming Hub trainings and tools, 47 farms signed on to plant 679,375 feet of kelp seed string this season, and 59 businesses spanning 11 U.S. states and Canadian provinces facilitating sales and making connections on Seaweed Source (Read more HERE).

🌿 Seaweed farms the size of 176 football pitches in West Country, UK face some media criticism (Read more HERE).

🌟 COP28: EU joins forces with Latin America and Caribbean to combat sargassum and make it an economic opportunity under Global Gateway (Read more HERE).

Microalgae

💸 Inalve raises €2 million to accelerate biofilm-based microalgae production (Read more HERE).

🛢 Updates on DOE’s desire to fund Viridos’ pre-pilot integrated sustainable aviation fuels algae biorefinery (Read more HERE).

🌟 With a large investor calling for Corbion NV to explore strategic alternatives, the company is committed to moving forward on a far-reaching restructuring program (Read more HERE).

💸 U.S. Department of Energy details funding for Ginkgo Bioworks led algal crop protection project (Read more HERE).

🙌 Clean water funding supports upgrades at Pasco facility: includes algae upgrades (Read more HERE).

🟢 UK-based vegan dog food company, Omni, has formed a strategic partnership with Fressnapf, a major German pet retailer boasting over 1,400 stores across Europe (Read more HERE).

📢 DOE issues Notice Of Intent to advance low carbon feedstocks for clean energy technologies (Read more HERE).

💸 $210 million in grants awarded to restore water resources, reduce harmful algal blooms (Read more HERE).

🐦Tweets of the week

🔥 What else was hot in seaweed and microalgae this week?

General

🌱 AlgaePlanet’s top ten algae stories of 2023 (Read more HERE).

🌱 Functional beverages becoming a cheaper alternative to health supplements as consumers tighten their budgets (Read more HERE).

🌊 A comprehensive Carbon Budget for Australia (and New Zealand), which includes all CO2 sources and sinks from human activities and natural systems on land, freshwater, and ocean (Read more HERE).

🥇 Natural History Museum scientists described a record 815 new species in 2023 (Read more HERE).

🐄 The feed ingredients basket has seen substantial turbulence throughout 2023. As in the past, resilience has prevailed. Priorities should remain volumes, responsible sourcing, and accountability (Read more HERE).

Macroalgae

🌊 Why scientists are looking to landscaping gravel to help restore Nova Scotia's kelp (Read more HERE).

🏆 Dynamic Biovate Hygienics is celebrating a string of industry awards: features seaweed extracts (Read more HERE).

🏆 UVU students win international competition with modified 'sponge' algae that soaks up toxins (Read more HERE).

🌿 New study confirms seaweed and mussel farms improve biodiversity and abundance of marine life, New Zealand and the Gulf of Maine (Read more HERE).

💸 Investment in seaweed production – not processing – urgently needs to be prioritised, according to leading industry analyst and Phyconomy founder Steven Hermans (Read more HERE).

Microalgae

🎉 Congratulations to Prometheus Materials, Friction Labs and Pretred for being featured in this year's Made in Colorado awards (Read more HERE).

🏥 HUISON DHA appeared in International Forum on Omega-3 and Global Health with some interesting updates (Read more HERE).

🟢 Algae and cyanobacteria to control crop-killing nematodes. Biostimulants offer a sustainable path to traditional chemical control of plant pathogen (Read more HERE).

🕵🏼‍♂️ New Research illuminates more efficient phosphorus-consuming algae for wastewater treatment (Read more HERE).

🟢 Researchers reveal algae could hold next generation of ethical and sustainable proteins (Read more HERE).

🐟 Copper sulphate is commonly used to control blooms of cyanobacteria in fish and shrimp ponds (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 seaweed and microalgae updates soon!

Best,

Peter