Seeding Food Innovation - Awarded Project 2018

New algal bioreactor design for clean food production with inland aquaculture

Project Description

With increasing demand for fish and seafood products globally, inland aquaculture is becoming an important source of global food production. This is primarily because food can be produced in proximity to large and densely populated areas, cutting down on transportation costs and emissions. It also allows the use of a more diverse set of species as the risk of local species introductions is significantly reduced. Finally, inland aquaculture is less prone to natural disasters (hurricanes, typhoons, blooms, water contamination etc.). We are developing a photo-bioreactor for the removal of nutrients from recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), making inland seafood production more sustainable and cost effective.

Relevance to the field of food innovation

The use of plants (and specifically algae) for nutrient removal from wastewater is a relatively new and promising direction. Over the years, a range of approaches has been proposed to implement such technologies. In contrast to the bacterial systems commonly used in the industry, our bioreactors will remove nitrogen, phosphate and CO2 at the same time, whilst also producing algae for commercialization.

Anticipated outcome

This project has the potential to disrupt the aquaculture industry by making inland aquaculture significantly more profitable and sustainable by reducing operating costs and creating added value with algae that can be commercialized as part of the aquaculture operation. If successful, it will also mitigate the potential risks that aquaculture in coastal areas face due to storms, phytoplankton blooms and environmental contamination.

Grantees:

 

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