Algae in Europe
René Wijffels
Rene.Wijffels@wur.nl
Contents
 Strengths and weaknesses in Europe
 European projects
 Industry
 Projects in the Netherlands
 Breakthroughs
Strengths and weaknesses in Europe
 Strengths
● Photobioreactors
● Industrialization of operation
● Biorefinery
 Need to strengthen in
● Synthetic biology
● Legislation
● Algal based products
 Collaboration between member states
● FP7 and Horizon 2020
● EABA
Major initiatives in Europe

EU gives opportunities for collaboration
● Between countries
● Industry driven (25% budget for sme)

R&D projects
● FUEL4ME
● DEMA
● SPLASH
● MIRACLES
● GIAVAP

Demonstration projects
● InteSuSal
● BIOFAT
● All-gas
2010
2015
2020
Demonstration Commodities
Economic and Market Analysis
LCA
Chain development
Commodities
Commercialization
Specialities
Economic and
Market Analysis
Demonstration
Product development
Chain development
Food/Feed specialities
Economic and Market Analysis
AlgaePARC Biorefinery
AlgaePARC Pilot facilities
Economic Analysis
Maturity
Netherlands: roadmap industrial production
2025
AlgaePARC Innovation Center
Product costs
Scale
Production chain analysis
Market development
Umbrella Wageningen UR Algae Program
 Industrial partners
Arke, Avantium, BAM, BASF, BAS, Biogas Fuel Cell, BioOils,
Biotopic, Bodec, Caglar Dogal Urunler, Cellulac, Cropeye,
Desah, Drie Wilgen, DSM, Dyadic, Eco Treasures, Evodos,
EWOS, ExxonMobil, Feyecon, Fitoplancton Marino,
Fotosintetica & Microbiologica, GEA-Westfalia, Heliae,
IDConsortium, Imenz, Infors, Lankhorst, LifeGlimmer, MFKK,
NATAC, Neste Oil, Holcim, Nijhuis, Omega Algae, ONVIDA,
OTEC, OWS, Paques, POS Bioscience, PNO, Prominent,
Proviron, Rhodia, Rodenburg Biopolymers, Roquette, Sabic,
Simris Alg, SPAROS, Suriname Staatsolie, Synthetic
Genomics, Total, Umwelt-Technie, Unilever, VFT
 Academic partners
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Cambridge University,
Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Cranfield
University, CSIC, ECN, Ege University, Frauenhofer, INRA,
Joanneum Research, Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and
Bioprocess Technology, Rijksuniversiteit
Groningen,Technical University Delft, Thomas Moore
Kempen, Uni Research, Universität Bielefeld, Universidad
de Antofagasta, University of Bergen, University of Huelva,
University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, University of
Utrecht, VITO, VU Amsterdam, Westfälische WilhelmsUniversität Münster
Industry (production)
 Algal production (>100 companies)
● A4F (Portugal)
● Proviron (Belgium)
● LGem (Netherlands)
● Microphyt (France)
● Algenics (France)
● Roquette (Germany)
● Fitoplancton Marino (Spain)
● Novagreen (Germany)
● Fotosintetica & Microbiologica (Italy)
Industry (technology providers)
Commercial in algae field
● GEA Westfalia (Germany)
● Evodos (Netherlands)
● Feyecon (Netherlands)
● Will A. Bachhofen (Switzerland)
● Cellulac (Ireland)
● Fotosintetica & Microbilogica (Italy)
Pipeline
● Dyadic (Netherlands)
● Proviron (Belgium)
Industry (end users)
Commercial
 Roquette
In projects
 BASF
 DSM
 TOTAL
 Unilever
 Neste Oil
 Roquette
 EWOS
 Avantium
Breakthroughs: market opportunities
Product
Biofuel
Biochemical
Biokerosene
500
Biochar
150
Biopolymer
2,500
Biolubricant
2,000
Biopolymer additivies
3,000
Coating
5,000
Paint
Food/Feed
1,000
Protein
1,000
Lipids
950
Carbohydrates
750
Functional Protein
Pigments
Cosmetics
10,000
Bulk Chemical
Poly-unsaturated fatty acids
Food aditives
Selling price € /ton
Antioxidants
Glycolipids, Phospholipids
75,000
3,000
1,100,000
30,000
6,000
Chemical
~2300€/Ton biomass
Lipids
35%w
Microalgae
Energy
Labour
Satured FA
7%w
Biolubricant
2000 €/Ton
Unsatured FA
18%w
Biopolymer
2500 €/Ton
Glycerol
3%w
Bulk chemical
100 €/Ton
Antioxidants
2.5%w
Biopolymer
additives
3000 €/Ton
Waxes
3.7%w
Coatings
5,000 €/Ton
Proteins
32%w
Bulk chemical
1000 €/Ton
Pigments
6%w
Paint additives
10,000 €/Ton
Carbohydrates
19%w
Biopolymer
2500 €/Ton
Ash/minerals
8%w
Product distribution
Market combinations
vs costs
€/kg biomass
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Costs for
production and biorefinery
Breakthroughs: scale and food grade
Food/feed/specialties
 Commercial production
 Food grade
Chemicals/biofuels
 Further reduction in costs
 Biorefinery
www.AlgaePARC.com
Rene.Wijffels@wur.nl
@ReneWijffels