AlgaEnergy, S.A.Avenida de Europa, 19 – Parque Empresarial, La Moraleja” , Spain

AlgaEnergy is a technology-based company specialized in the field of microalgae biotechnology that, with substantial R&D programs worth millions of Euros (both private and public funding), is managed by a team of entrepreneurs and scientists with solid track, proven success and extensive experience within their respective fields.

The company’s mission is to develop novel products derived from microalgae -nutritional, cosmetics and energetic, among others- and to produce them in an economically profitable way.

Professor Miguel Garcia Guerrero is the chief scientific advisor and board member of the Company. He is Professor of Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Seville, and one of the few internationally recognized specialists working for more than 3 decades on the biotechnology of photosynthetic microorganisms.

The 5th world’s largest electricity supplier and the leading player in the global renewable energy sector, IBERDROLA, is shareholder and technology partner of AlgaEnergy since 2009.

Strategic Plan

AlgaEnergy’s Strategic Plan has envisaged the responsible and progressive scale-up of its R&D and Production facilities, since the scientific and technological barriers that may be encountered do not only vary according to engineering parameters but also differ according to the volume of a particular crop, and the purpose for which it is intended.

The first culture facility, a mobile laboratory with 240 litre capacity – already much larger than in a laboratory – was completed in 2009 and its technology was fine-tuned over the course of 2010. In 2010, AlgaEnergy designed its new Experimentation Plant, with a capacity of 40,000 litres, whose construction at the “Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport” was completed in May, 2011. Since then, numerous researches are being undertaken at that plant, including challenging, comparing and contrasting strains, technologies and processes.

The next phase of AlgaEnergy’s Strategic Plan was the design and construction of a 1,000,000 liters capacity Production Plant in “Arcos de la Frontera (Cadiz)”, covering an area of 1 hectare and with an estimated production of 100 tons of dried biomass per year. The first phase of this plant is already in operations since May 2014, reaching an estimated production of 40 tons per year. The second phase will be completed during the year 2014.

Sectors & Products

The leading condition of its national and European microalgae biotechnology macro-programs, as well as its microalgae biomass or derived products exports to other countries, make of AlgaEnergy an internationally well positioned company among the scientific and business communities, having the following permanent strategic objectives:

• The continuous improvement of the culturing processes
• The production of high quality microalgae biomass and derived products
• The commercialization of its products at competitive prices

AlgaEnergy’s Strategic Plan pays special attention to the R&D initiatives in those areas in which the development of the microalgae biological processes can further contribute to alleviate the three crises threatening humankind’s existence: food security, energy efficiency and the environmental sustainability.

AlgaEnergy is currently marketing products targeting the sectors of aquaculture, agriculture, food, feed, natural pigments, cosmetics, and technology and engineering, via the selling of turnkey plants. In the near future, AlgaEnergy will have developed new products for the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors, whilst at the same time, it is intensifying its researches and developments across the whole value chain towards the cost reduction, under profitability and sustainability criteria, of third generation biofuels to be used for road transport and aviation.

Depending on the industry for which the final product is intended, AlgaEnergy will cultivate a selected microalgae, from which high quality biomass is obtained, which in itself is valid to be consumed in either fresh/frozen paste or lyophilized form, to be further processed towards a valuable derived product, or as source of which high value components of interest for different sectors can be extracted.

In case that the final objective is to obtain a particular substance from the biomass which has been produced (such as lutein, beta-carotene, astaxanthin, etc.), the process must be completed using the most suitable procedures for its extraction.