Algalif has been awarded the Global Health and Pharma Biotechnology Awards 2024 as the Best Natural Astaxanthin Products Supplier. Algalif got the same award in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
This is the ninth time the UK-based Global Health & Pharma magazine has given out the international Biotechnology Awards. The magazine is a part of AI Global Media publishing house. Please go here to read the magazine.
“We are extremely honored by receiving these esteemed awards for the fourth time,” says Svavar Halldorsson, Algalif´s Head of Sales and Marketing. “But we need to be mindful that the real honor belongs to our dedicated teams in science, production and sales. Without their hard work, we would not be receiving any awards of any kind.”
Algalif is Europes’s biggest producer of sustainable natural astaxanthin. Algalif was the first and only Icelandic Company to be awarded the GHP Pharma Biotechnology Awards in 2022 and therefore also the first Icelandic company to win it four times.
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When a car rusts, an apple rots, or skin wrinkles, it is always due to “free radicals”. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules that attack the body’s 100 trillion cells every day, triggering a destructive chain reaction that can manifest itself in a wide variety of diseases. However, we can protect ourselves from this with certain radical scavengers called “antioxidants”. One such radical scavenger, Astaxanthin, a highly potent carotenoid, is one of the strongest antioxidants. This substance can protect the body´s cells from the attacks of free radicals.
Natural astaxanthin is the strongest antioxidant
You cannot see them, cannot hear them, cannot smell them, and cannot feel them. But they are there! The Killer in the Air. Their name: “Free radicals”. This is simply oxygen molecules.
Oxygen is vital to us humans. But how can a vital element be capable of such destruction? On one hand, oxygen sustains, promotes, and fuels life – on the other hand, it causes stress and damage to our proteins and even DNA, impairing our health and well-being in multiple ways. The reason: Not all oxygen molecules are made equal.
Negative influence of oxygen molecules
The majority of respirated oxygen is stable and indispensable for life. But there are also unstable oxygen molecules, including the free radicals. Radical and non-radical oxygen molecules differ in their molecular structure. Radical oxygen species have an unpaired – unstable – electron, and this excess of energy can only be stabilized by stealing electrons from other nearby molecules, such as our proteins or DNA. This is how free radicals can quickly develop into killer substances. The radical oxygen molecules can influence our organism very negatively.
Although microalgae certainly represent a novel, promising source of several bioactive compounds such as astaxanthin, fucoxanthin, EPA/DHA, and phycocyanin, less attention has been paid to the difference between potential cultivation techniques and their associated environmental and sustainability footprint. Here, location, water availability and quality, cultivation technique, energy source, energy requirements, volumetric productivity, downstream approach, and carbon footprint are key factors in the overall sustainability profile of a given approach. Let’s take a closer look at two of those factors: location and water source.
Location
Location in this context can refer to both geographical location, but also the distinction between cultivation that takes place outdoors and cultivation that takes place indoors. In both cases though, access to a sustainable, stable, and renewable energy source is of critical importance.
Outdoor operations are usually located in warm, sunny climates and have the general sustainability advantage of using natural sunlight to drive the photosynthesis and thereby requiring less energy overall. The disadvantages include increased contamination risk and bioburden, low productivity, limited light utilization and a stronger need for external temperature adjustments – all of which can increase the environmental footprint substantially.
Indoor operations are usually more energy intensive as the process is often driven by artificial high-energy lighting. The advantages however include full parameter control (temperature, pH etc.), enhanced productivity (partly due to being able to cultivate both day and night), lower contamination risk and lower energy requirements for temperature adjustment. Locations with stable, low-temperature climates, low bioburden and access to renewable energy are therefore best suited for indoor microalgae cultivation.
Water availability & quality
Water is the single most important ingredient in microalgae cultivation. Microalgae cultures are predominantly made up of water (biomass density rarely exceeds 10 g/L and is often around 1-4 g/L), so it goes without saying that water availability and quality are critical factors. Sustainability and environmental considerations are tightly linked to the water source in many ways;
Sustainable, steady water access is of primary importance and water usage must not be at the expense of other industries or general usage.
Chemical pre-treatment of the water is needed in locations with poor water quality, and this has a negative impact on the overall sustainability and environmental profile.
The suitability of the local water profile needs to be aligned with the intended culture medium to be used and the microalgae species in question. If the profile is not suitable, adjustments need to be made and these can have negative environmental impacts.
Controlling water use by ensuring that evaporation rates are minimized is a sustainable step to take. Evaporation rates in open pond, outdoor systems can exceed 20% per day but in closed, indoor systems the evaporation rates can be maintained well below 1%
Overall, this discussion demonstrates that although microalgae cultivation for the production of bioactive compounds is an inherently environmentally friendly process, many details have to be taken into consideration to assess the overall sustainability profile and to compare products produced by different cultivation techniques and in different locations.
An Algalif Blog by Dr. Tryggvi Stefansson, CChief Operating Officer of Algalif
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