Microalgae Aqualgae

Sustainable photobioreactor to produce marine microalgae.

Investment overview

Impact category

Blue economy

Investment type

Loan

Yearly interest

4.5

Term

months

Risk level

B-

What will you be financing?

With Portuguese DNA, Aqualgae is headquartered in Coruña (Spain) and has a manufacturing center in Viana do Castelo (Portugal).

The company is mainly dedicated to the design and manufacture of photobioreactors for the production of microalgae, and the supply of services in essential areas of aquaculture, such as the automation of processes and systems, the installation of equipment and sensors, and the development of platforms monitoring and control.

With a philosophy based on constant improvement and development of more sustainable and efficient solutions, Aqualgae is currently working on the development of an automated tubular photobioreactor to produce marine microalgae, using 100% recyclable materials that will reduce the use of thermoplastic polymers to less than 5%. Now, this equipment is composed mostly of methacrylate (PMMA), a thermoplastic polymer with an average lifetime of about 15 years, which releases toxic compounds if burned and that is difficult to recycle.

The methacrylate will be replaced by borosilicate glass, a 100% recyclable material, with an average lifetime of 50 years, inert in nature, and with better physical characteristics to be used in the production of microalgae.

The funds raised through this campaign will be used to manufacture two photobioreactors within 6 months and represent 80% of the project's global investment. The remaining amount will be invested by the company. First sales are expected later this year.

What is the impact?

Direct Environmental Impact (the project's):

Contribution to plastic consumption reduction: traditional microalgae production systems are made up of plastic bags, with an average useful life of one month, which go to waste after this period of use and are not 100% recyclable. In turn, the photobioreactors currently used are made up of components such as metal and thermoplastic polymers that can represent up to 70% of their total weight. Although they have a longer service life, the change to the new borosilicate glass material will allow 95% of plastic materials to be eliminated.
Promotion of recycling: in addition to having much greater durability (on average 50 years compared to the average useful life of 15 years for polymers), glass is 100% recyclable and inert to nature.
Productivity improvement: compared to traditional methods of producing microalgae in plastic bags, productivity improvements of at least 400% are expected. In relation to methacrylate photobioreactors, the increase in productivity can reach 15%.

Indirect environmental impact (the company's):

CO2 absorption: microalgae are responsible for capturing CO2 - for every kg of biomass produced, at least 2 kg of CO2 are absorbed.

Impact indicators
‍

CO2 avoided per year

clean energy

created by our projects

of sustainable

impacted

Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals
‍

About the Promoter

About

Aqualgae, Sociedade Limitada - Sucursal em Portugal

Direct Environmental Impact (the project's):

Contribution to plastic consumption reduction: traditional microalgae production systems are made up of plastic bags, with an average useful life of one month, which go to waste after this period of use and are not 100% recyclable. In turn, the photobioreactors currently used are made up of components such as metal and thermoplastic polymers that can represent up to 70% of their total weight. Although they have a longer service life, the change to the new borosilicate glass material will allow 95% of plastic materials to be eliminated.
Promotion of recycling: in addition to having much greater durability (on average 50 years compared to the average useful life of 15 years for polymers), glass is 100% recyclable and inert to nature.
Productivity improvement: compared to traditional methods of producing microalgae in plastic bags, productivity improvements of at least 400% are expected. In relation to methacrylate photobioreactors, the increase in productivity can reach 15%.

Indirect environmental impact (the company's):

CO2 absorption: microalgae are responsible for capturing CO2 - for every kg of biomass produced, at least 2 kg of CO2 are absorbed.

Promoter website

https://aqualgae.com/

Team
‍

[{"id":8,"promoter_id":199,"name":"Pedro Seixas","description":"PhD in Marine Biology and Aquaculture.","link":"","role":"Founder and director","member_photo":"https://991934249232-prod-octobercms-public-storage.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public/62e/aa5/016/62eaa5016eff1611147923.jpg","avatar_id":63362},{"id":9,"promoter_id":199,"name":"Nuno Dolgner","description":"Master in Marine Biology, in Aqualgae Portugal he is responsible for the Aquaculture department.","link":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/nuno-dolgner-273654104/?originalSubdomain=pt","role":"Aquaculture Manager","member_photo":"https://991934249232-prod-octobercms-public-storage.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public/62f/133/ac0/62f133ac06d1b281867828.jpg","avatar_id":63784},{"id":10,"promoter_id":199,"name":"Guilherme Fonseca","description":"Mechatronics Engineering, at Aqualgae Portugal he is responsible for the Engineering Departament","link":"https://www.linkedin.com/company/aqualgae/","role":"Engineering Manager","member_photo":"https://991934249232-prod-octobercms-public-storage.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public/62f/134/aec/62f134aec2e0c953708636.jpg","avatar_id":63785}]

Business Model
‍

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.