We carry out collaborative inter-disciplinary research with scientists and local industry. Our work is supported by the Welsh Government, UKRI and European funding. We are very keen to engage with new industry partners to develop new projects for the circular economy, remediation of wastes and high-value products.
Industrial Remediation Using Algae
Can our algae make your industrial operation carbon neutral?
We are investigating the use of flue gas CO2 from this source for producing algal biomass. Our ALG-CO2 project is an ongoing collaboration with Bluestone Brewing Company in Newport, Pembrokeshire (Welsh Government funded Smart Expertise project followed by the Impact Acceleration account NERC fund). Meanwhile our EU-funded ALGAEBREW project investigates the effect of growing algae on brewery wastewater.
This helps to drive down the economic costs of going green. A great success of the INTERREG NEW funded ALG-AD project (led by our team) was to combine algal and anaerobic-digestion (AD) technologies. We remediate nutrient rich digestate at the AD plant with microalgae, using the algal biomass for animal feed trials.
We are investigating the use of flue gas CO2 from this source for producing algal biomass. Our ALG-CO2 project is an ongoing collaboration with Bluestone Brewing Company in Newport, Pembrokeshire (Welsh Government funded Smart Expertise project followed by the Impact Acceleration account NERC fund). Meanwhile our EU-funded ALGAEBREW project investigates the effect of growing algae on brewery wastewater. This helps to drive down the economic costs of going green. A great success of the INTERREG NEW funded project (led by our team) was to combine algal and anaerobic-digestion (AD) technologies. We remediate nutrient rich digestate at the AD plant with microalgae, using the algal biomass for animal feed trials.
Wastewater Processing
Concerned about water quality and the costs of future legislation?
Nutrients from wastewater (e.g., sewage treatment plants: STPs) and agricultural runoff pollute the environment causing harmful algal blooms. Why not grow algae in the right place to safely remediate these nutrients and return them back to agriculture? Our EMPR project (SURES funded) is doing just that by investigating how algae regulate phosphate pollution uptake so the process can run more effectively.
High Value Products for Industry
Interested in what algal products we can provide?
Algae can produce proteins for food, pigments for cosmetics, and nutraceuticals for health. They can also manufacture high-value products such as pharmaceuticals, which we study in collaboration with Phytoquest. In addition, our VISMO project (Pioneer/UKRI) investigates why algae produce healthy oils in large quantities and if this relates to buoyancy.
