29 Oct 2021

Euronews | "Is microalgae the sustainable food of the future?"

Algal cultivation requires exact procedures in order to achieve abundant biomass yields. Traditional yeast, like the one used to make beer, activates the fermentation process, then the culture is injected into large photobioreactors where it grows until it reaches the right quality standard. After that, it is harvested and processed into fine powder.

The algae are inoculated in reactors where with every new inoculation the culture volume is increased. That is done until they have enough cells to make it worth moving on to the processing stage. The processing stage is meant to concentrate the cells to then make a concentrated paste for the aquaculture market. This concentrate can also be made into a powder that can be used as an ingredient or a food supplement.

The food industry's interest in microalgae is rising quickly due to new consumer habits, sustainability of production, but also for health reasons.