Seaweed grown on dry land | Business | EUROtoday

It all began with a query that Yago Sierras requested his good friend Guillermo del Barco. “What if we grow algae in the Mediterranean?” They had no thought in regards to the topic, however that they had been wanting to start out a enterprise for a while and the sector attracted them. They analyzed the scenario and noticed potentialities, they even opted for the lettuce, a species popularly referred to as sea lettuce, for its potential for numerous sectors. They created the Mediterranean Algae firm in mid-2021 and now produce one ton yearly, which is able to quickly be ten because of the brand new services they’re growing in Alicante, the place they’ve their laboratories. . They extract the extracts of this species for cosmetics and in addition promote it recent and dry as a seasoning for meals. Last 12 months they invoiced 50,000 euros and this 12 months they are going to double that determine. Always with their sights set on rising: they hope to succeed in their first million in 2025.

Silvia Antón, marine biologist and oceanographer on the staff, was the one who selected the algae. And Alejandro Simón arrived later to assist emulate Mediterranean circumstances on dry land. “Growing in the sea involved very long procedures and a huge investment, but that solution allowed us to move forward,” says Sierras. This younger staff — everyone seems to be 27 years outdated besides Guillermo, who’s 29 — was additionally fortunate. Without realizing it, that they had determined to domesticate an algae that reproduces very simply by means of fragments of itself. “It grows and, at a certain moment, a part separates, generating another individual,” explains the entrepreneur. A system that has facilitated its improvement in ponds which are greater than salt water: “Many variables have to be controlled.”

In their services within the Alicante enterprise incubator Príncipe Felipe and the Scientific Park of the University of Alicante, they maintain their manufacturing after which deal with it to get probably the most out of it. On the one hand, they extract the energetic elements from sea lettuce that they promote to laboratories all through Spain and even use it for their very own line of cosmetics, Siwid Cosmetics. On the opposite hand, they put together it to promote it recent or in seasonings (in grinders just like pepper mills) for bars and eating places. They focus there on sea lettuce, but additionally on different algae —codium and sea spaghetti, amongst others—which they purchase from collectors from completely different elements of the Spanish coast on the request of their Horeca channel purchasers.

While they had been rising, at Cajamar Innova they got some keys to develop their know-how and market their product after first going by means of an incubator after which the accelerator. In parallel, the corporate – made up of its 4 founders and a fifth one that is accountable for advertising – participates in several R&D tasks with firms within the meals sector. Among different points, they research the introduction of proteins or Omega3 from algae in several merchandise, changing these of animal origin and bettering sustainability. They have additionally carried out exams within the Port of Alicante for using algae to decontaminate waters that they are going to now lengthen to different elements of the Mediterranean and have examined it as a biostimulant for agriculture.

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