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H2020 program / Horizon Europe

SALINA

Scalable macroAlgae cuLtivation systems for INnovative Applications in the food, cosmetic and construction sectors

Principal Investigator
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Researcher

Isabel Costa received her PhD from the University of Porto in 2008 in estuarine ecology and modelling, working on primary productivity and phytoplankton community function. She has worked on ecological quality assessment and rehabilitation of freshwater and estuarine ecosystems, in academic and industrial environments. She has been working for several years now in seaweeds cultivation projects, namely in developing and implementing methods for seaweed cultivation at the lab, at sea, and on land pilot scale facilities; and in seaweed valorization projects as food and feed ingredients. She participated in 12 projects and published so far 13 publications in SCI journals. She has collaborated with different academic institutions as a teacher, at bachelor and master levels, and as student supervisor.

RESEARCH GROUPS:

SALINA aims to optimize macroalgae cultivation systems (on-shore and off-shore) and full biomass valorization routes through the implementation of cascade biorefinery process. Four different sites located in west coast of Ireland, North Atlantic area, Baltic Sea and Ebro-Delta (Mediterranean region) are selected as demo sites to cover the diversity of culture conditions across Europe. The upgraded culture process will start with the selection of the suited macroalgae strains, tailored seaweed farming approaches and preservative methods. Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture with several species of fish and seafood will be assessed across the demo sites. Subsequently; protocols to ensure high yields and purity of carbohydrates, peptides and fibers fractions will be defined. The biorefinery process will be designed to fully utilize feedstock avoiding waste generation, contributing to EU fair & green transition. Functional beverages and gel for athletes will be produced by incorporating peptides and carbohydrates, alginate will be obtained to develop construction material with thermal and insulation properties and carbohydrates and carbohydrates and fibers will be ingredients for cream moistures and scrubs manufacture. In addition, valorization of algae biomass will be covered through production of delicatessen snacks. These products will be tested to ensure compliance with EU regulation, security, functionality and consumer acceptance as market readiness step. All these validated processes will be expanded towards industrial scale. Hence, SALINA will ease the implementation of macroalgae culture and exploitation routes considering ecological boundaries. The proposal will upgrade current knowledge by establishing a cross-sectorial network covering political representatives, farmers, technology providers, biomass transformers and manufacturers. Through clustering with sister projects, SALINA will speed up the adoption of aquaculture activities across Europe.

Research Teams
Leader Institution
ASINCAR Asociación de Investigación de Industrias Cárnicas del Principado de Asturias
Program
Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking, Horizon Europe
Funding
Other projects