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Kicking off SEAlgaePower: Turning Seafood Production Water Streams into Blue Value

  • sealgaepower
  • Oct 20
  • 2 min read

What if the water from aquaculture and seafood processing industries could be cleaned using

microalgae—and in the process, produce ingredients for food, feed, and even medicine?


And what if a single solution could help Europe’s aquaculture industry cut costs, reduce emissions, and move closer to a climate-neutral, zero-waste blue economy?

 

These are the challenges the SEAlgaePower project has set out to address.

 

In early October 2025 the University of Gothenburg hosted partners from across Europe and beyond for the official kick-off meeting, coordinated by Professor Cornelia Spetea Wiklund.


Over the next three years, the consortium will develop and demonstrate microalgae-based technologies that purify nutrient-rich wastewater from aquaculture and seafood processing while producing valuable biomass for new products.

 

💡From problem to purpose

Europe’s seafood sector is booming — but so are the volumes of nutrient-rich wastewater it produces. Treating this water is expensive and energy-intensive, with uneven regulations across countries.

 

SEAlgaePower applies a “turn cost into value” approach: using marine microalgae from the North and Mediterranean Seas to absorb nutrients, clean process waters, and transform waste into biomass rich in proteins, lipids, omega-3s, and bioactive polysaccharides.

 

This biomass will form the basis for new bio-ingredients used in food, feed, fertilisers, nutraceuticals, and medical materials — creating both environmental and economic gains for Europe’s blue economy.

 

🔬 Who’s behind SEAlgaePower?

Thirteen partners from seven countries bring expertise across the entire value chain:

  • University of Göteborg (Sweden) – Coordination, lab-scale cultivation, and data management

  • NORCE (Norway) – Pilot-scale cultivation at the National AlgaePilot Mongstad

  • University of Aveiro (Portugal) – Biorefinery and extraction of proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides

  • University of Palermo (Italy) – Isolation of new Mediterranean strains and bioactivity testing

  • Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) – Process-water characterisation and food applications

  • DTI Danish Technological Institute (Denmark) – BioPod pilot systems and prototype development

  • RISE (Sweden) – MedTech materials for wound care and regenerative medicine

  • NIBIO (Norway) – Evaluation of algae-based fertilisers and nutrient recovery

  • NFH NordicFlexHouse (Denmark) – BioPod integration and circular aquaculture systems

  • SITES (Ireland) – Communication, stakeholder engagement, socio-economic and circularity assessment

  • University of São Paulo (Brazil) – Sustainability and social-impact assessment

  • Industry partners Klädesholmen Seafood (Sweden) and Ragn-Sells Havbruk (Norway) – Providing real wastewater streams and validation environments

 

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Image: The SEAlgaePower Consortium at the Kick-off Meeting


🌱 What success will look like:

SEAlgaePower will:• Identify microalgae species suited to Nordic and Mediterranean wastewaters• Demonstrate >90 % nutrient removal and high-yield biomass production• Establish biorefinery protocols for proteins, omega-3 oils, and polysaccharides• Deliver product prototypes for fish feed, nutraceuticals, food, fertilisers, and MedTech• Assess environmental, economic, and social impacts to support large-scale adoption

 

By closing the loop between aquaculture and algae cultivation, SEAlgaePower aims to minimise nutrient discharge, create new carbon-neutral bioproducts, and turn a costly waste stream into a resource — transforming a linear problem into a circular opportunity.

 

SEAlgaePower is co-funded by the European Commission and the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP), with national co-funding from participating countries.

 
 
 

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