AQUATOR aims to advance the blue bioeconomy in general and regional sustainable aquaculture in particular. In the BMBF-funded project, the research groups involved in AQUATOR are working on material flows, environmental assessments and market analyses, as well as evaluating social acceptance and developing potential new business areas using various aquatic example systems. With the help of this extensive competence portfolio and broad network, founders will be supported financially, administratively, and prospectively in the future in order to realize their business ideas in the bioeconomic aquatic sector and especially in the field of aquaculture.
Commodities such as fish, seafood and algae have long been cultivated for human consumption in aquacultures. They are used as food, dietary supplements, in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and medicine. However, the farmed animals and plants are often only partially used. The LaMuOpt project aims at a holistic utilization of mussels and algae to make farms more ecological and economical.
Land-based aquaculture facilities with marine species have so far been complex and cost-intensive due to the high technical effort required for wastewater treatment. The use of flow-through systems with seawater or saline groundwater requires the efficient treatment of the resulting wastewater, for which no conclusive concepts exist yet. For the development of a wastewater treatment plant for saline wastewater, halophytes (salt plants) are used because they can contribute to nutrient reduction and contain promising ingredients for human nutrition.
In this project, we aim to develop a biorefinery concept that allows the economic and sustainable use of regional algal biomasses. We propose a cascade utilization of algal biomasses that allows the exploitation of (i) classical fatty acids, (ii) new marine sugars and (iii) bioactive secondary metabolites. The combined extraction and biotechnological utilization of different algal ingredients ensures improved value chains of these marine renewable resources.
Recent studies of microalgae indicate substances that have a protective effect on brain cells and are thus suitable for preventive or possibly therapeutic use against neurodegeneration. Thus, the main objective of this project is to develop a formulated, high quality neuroprotective dietary supplement from algae that combines optimal concentrations of nutritive and bioactive compounds from different types of algae (microalgae and macroalgae) in a single “high quality” product.
FucoSan – Health from the Sea (FucoSan – Sundhed fra havet) is a German-Danish project funded by the EU regional development program Interreg Va for three years since March 2017. Under the leadership of the Eye Clinic of UKSH (Kiel), cross-border expertise from research to commercial-sustainable use has been brought together with seven other partners. The aim is to identify potential applications of the valuable marine bioresource of fucoidans for health and well-being.
ECOSMA aims to promote the production and marketing of ecologically produced marine aquaculture products. The aim is to harmonize environmental and economic interests and to create positive awareness for sustainable ecological marine aquaculture.