News/agenda

What progress has been made on the project as 2024 draws to a close? Read this article to find out more!

On October 15th, the VALUABLE project participated in the workshop “Insights Into EU's Modern Bioeconomy - New Ways to Valorise Underexploited Biomass” held in Munich. This event, organized alongside the Bio-LUSH, VALUABLE and CIRCALGAE projects, showcased collaborative efforts within the EU to advance sustainable bioeconomy solutions.

Watch the ‘Best practices on the production and sustainability of microalgae in Europe’ workshop organised by CEVA and A4F as part of the MULTI-STR3AM and CIRCALGAE projects.

The 5th General Assembly of the CIRCALGAE project took place on 21st and 22nd October 2024 at Lisbon (Portugal)! This was time to take stock of the project's progress with the presentation of all the results. Once all the algae co-product samples have been analysed, development of the final product prototypes will begin, thanks to the end-user partners in food, feed and cosmetic sectors.

In this report, CEAMSA and Salata, as partners in charge of the validation of ingredients in food applications, in collaboration with cosmetic validators, RNB, Saponia and Zeto; and Nutrition Science, responsible for feed applications, worked together on the definition of functional and safety requirements of ingredients developed in the project frame. Apart from mentioned partners, CSIC and SAFE played an important role on the revision of the different amendments with a global perspective of the project needs.  

At the end of the first year of the CIRCALGAE project, CIVITTA produced a deliverable regarding algae-derived product market in Europe.

During the first semester of the CIRCALGAE project, CEVA produced one of the first deliverable of the project by writing the “Report of the current algae industry in Europe” in the WP1.

As part of the European CIRCALGAE project, actions to disseminate results and share knowledge about algae are taking place throughout the project. The first CIRCALGAE training sessions took place at CEVA June 11,12 &13. Europe was in attendance, with 18 trainees from England, Ireland, Spain, France and even Iceland. These 3 days were rich in presentations, tasting and exchanges.

Advances within CIRCALGAE project are also patent in the scientific production. Although more is yet to come in 2024, CSIC already released three scientific articles in 2023 related to the exploitation of alginate within a biorefinery.

Work Package 1 (WP1) is focused on optimizing the cultivation and harvesting parameters for both microalgae and macroalgae. The project partners—A4F, IGV, Roquette, and CEVA—have evaluated these parameters to achieve high yields of biomass and the desired microalgae ingredients. These ingredients are then recovered at each partner's dedicated biorefinery.

Work Package 2 (WP2) of the CIRCALGAE project has made significant strides in developing initial lab processing protocols for various macroalgae and microalgae species. Our team focused on Pheodactylum and Spirulina for microalgae, and Gelidium and Laminaria for macroalgae. These species were selected for their potential to produce valuable ingredients for the food, feed, and cosmetic industries.

The 4th General Assembly of the CIRCALGAE project took place on 30 and 31 May 2024 at Lofthus! All the members of the European CIRCALGAE project consortium met in Norway.

There have been a few changes for the CIRCALGAE project at the start of 2024. The project welcomes a new coordinator: CHALMERS University in Sweden. Here is the presentation of this new partner.

CIRCALGAE's work package 3 deals with several interconnected tasks related to the characterization and formulation of new ingredients for food, feed or cosmetics.

On October 26th, CIRCALGAE project’s partners held the first workshop in a series of events to be organized throughout the project. The event was held as a hybrid workshop, organized by CEVA and AQUIMER. It gathered project partners and stakeholders in Lille, while also allowing all interested parties to attend online, with close to 200 registered participants. The workshop focused on seaweed harvesting and cultivation in Europe, providing perspectives from European stakeholders on seaweed supply and value chains.

On 25 and 26 October 2023, all the partners of CIRCALGAE European project met at Lille (France) and online to celebrate the project's first anniversary.

Wednesday 13th september, Amparo Jimenez Quero presented CIRCALGAE Project during the conference : “Microalgae for the foods and feeds of the future” at the Final Conference of the European ProFuture Project. Coordinated by the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) in Spain, this event was organised at COMET LOUISE, BRUSSELS and online the 13th and 14th September.

The 15th of June 2023, we took part in the Wider Caribbean - EU regional conference on sargassum: turning sargassum into an opportunity.

The European Maritime Day (EMD) is the annual two-day event during which Europe’s maritime community meet to network, discuss and outline joint action on maritime affairs and sustainable blue economy.

Members of the 21 partner entities of CIRCALGAE’s project met at Valencia (Spain) on April 20th and 21th for the Second consortium meeting.

Last 17th of February, we participated in the 1st Annual Forum of the Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030" at Brussels!

CIRCALGAE project has been accepted to take part of the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Water at the beginning of 2023! It will be a good opportunity to develop collaborations and synergies with other projects.

The kickoff meeting of the CIRCALGAE project took place in Stockholm (Sweden) at Kungliga Tekniska högskolan campus on 17-18 October 2022.