Xanthella is delighted to welcome Dr. Sebastien Jubeau to their team as Research Director.

Sebastien has a master’s degree in plant chemistry and quality of plant products from Agrocampus Ouest (Rennes, France).  During his internship at Ifremer Nantes he discovered the world of microalgae, working on the production of exopolysaccharides by different species. Aware of the huge potential that microalgae represent, he decided to complete his master’s degree in biotechnology and bioprocess at Nantes University and studied the production of an exometabolite by a diatom during his internship at laboratory GEPEA (Saint-Nazaire, Nantes).  He then spent the next three years working on his PhD thesis on the biorefinery of the red microalga Porphyridium cruentum.  He successfully developed a process to valorise the whole biomass enabling production of different high value extracts.

After his thesis, he became project manager at AlgoSource Technologies where he was in charge of all projects concerning downstream processing and microalgae valorisation. During this time he was a project partner, work package leader and project leader in various projects, including FP7 BIOFAT project, the ADEME Algoraff project and the H2020 BBI Magnificent.  He has also worked with private companies to develop new microalgal based products for the nutraceutical, cosmetic and feed markets. He is the co-author of 11 scientific articles and 2 patents.

Sebastien is looking forward to getting involved in the innovative ASLEE and ENBIO projects at Xanthella.

Xanthella Ltd are thrilled to announce their success as overall winners in the Rural Enterprise and Innovation category at the Scottish Rural Awards 2018. The Scottish Rural Awards are the ultimate benchmark of excellence in Scotland’s countryside – a celebration of the enterprise, innovation, dedication and community spirit of those who live in rural Scotland.

Along with over 400 guests and some of Scotland’s most outstanding rural businesses, representatives from Xanthella’s team attended the evening award ceremony and gala dinner on 22nd March at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.

Within the ASLEE project Xanthella have developed large scale photobioreactors (Pandora PBR™) that are able to respond to intermittent energy supply and the team is now working on the Energy for the Bioeconomy (ENBIO) project alongside ALIenergy and Woodland Renewables. ENBIO will further exploit the PBR technology and build an industrial scale array of PBRs on the Ardnamurchan Estate. The judges were impressed with the innovative nature of the ASLEE and ENBIO projects and how they integrate algal bioproduction with locally generated renewable electricity, helping to balance the grid, creating a new bioindustry and boosting the rural circular economy by utilising stranded resources.

Innovation is their motivation at the Scottish Rural Awards

Phosphorous (P) is an essential, indispensable, but non-renewable, nutrient used as a fertilizer for the growth of all crops. However, excessive use and potential discharge of P into the environment can lead to eutrophication, which results in algae blooms and dead zones. Therefore, recovering P from waste streams has become a major objective both to provide new sources of fertilisers and to prevent pollution.
The Phos4You project, funded by Interreg North-West Europe programme, specifically targets phosphorus recovery from municipal waste water treatment plants (WWTPs). Six different demonstrators of innovative P-recovery technologies will be constructed and operated in real life conditions for municipal sewage water.

Scotland is considered as 97% rural with around 1600 waste water treatment plants serving communities with less than 500 persons. In small waste water treatment plants such as these, nutrients are usually not recovered, potentially leading to eutrophication problems when the waste water is discharged. Recovering P from these decentralized small waste water treatment plants requires systems offering robustness, low maintenance and adapted to a high variability of P in wastewater.

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), as part of the Interreg North West Europe Phos4You project, is evaluating a microalgae phosphorous recovery technology as part of its focus on technologies adapted to remote, rural and island locations in Scotland. The extremophile microalgae Chlamydomonas acidophila, which grows at a pH of 2-3, is being tested in this context for its high phosphorus and nitrogen uptake rates (up to 90%) whilst operating at low light intensities.

The novel, internally illuminated Pandora PBR™ photobioreactor (PBR) designed, developed and built by ASLEE partner Xanthella, is being considered for scale-up testing of this nature-based technology.

GCU and Xanthella are in discussions about how algal production can be enhanced and how the species used in wastewater treatment can grow and recover nutrients in their manufactured systems.  

Like Ardnamurchan and the West Coast of Scotland, Iceland’s pristine environment, pure water and abundance of renewable energy provides an ideal location for cultivation of algae.

A brand new, state-of-the-art facility for the production of the health supplement Astaxanthin has been established at Reykjanesbaer by Norwegian company Algalif.

Astaxanthin is a reddish pigment that belongs to a group of chemicals called carotenoids, which are reported to have multiple health benefits including antioxidant properties. The compound  occurs naturally in certain algae and creates the pink or red colour in salmon, trout, lobster, shrimp, and other seafood.

Algalif extract the powerful antioxidant from the algal species Haematococcus pluvialis, which is grown using 100%, locally available geothermal energy. 

Watch the company video for full details of their Astaxanthin  production.

Preparation for the installation of the Pandora PBR™ algal photobioreactor (PBR) array at Ardnamurchan is almost complete. The combined heat and power system (CHP), which will supply the electricity for the array, is installed and running. This uses woodchip produced on site from local, sustainable timber to fuel its three 75kW turbines. The installation has also created two new employment positions to run the CHP, evaporator, pelleting and woodchip plant.

The newly constructed “shed” for algal PBR array is also ready, with utilities including lighting and power in place. Once the PBRs are installed, day to day running of the bioproduction facility will be used for a time and motion study and to enable development of business models and application tools for the project.

The work at Ardnamurchan represents more than £1 million of investment into the circular bioeconomy in the local area. The estate management, local resources and new CHP system make Ardnamurchan an ideal test ground for the pilot scale deployment of the ENBIO project. Installation of the photobioreactors is estimated to begin in July and everyone is very excited to see the array up and running.
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ALIenergy is delighted to announce their success as winner of the Bioenergy category in the Rushlight Awards 2017-18 on behalf of the ASLEE project partnership (Algal Solutions for Local Energy Economy). 

The Rushlight Awards are a well-established event recognizing the cleantech stars and sustainability champions of today. They are an independent set of awards designed specifically to support and promote all the latest clean technologies, innovations, programmes, installations and initiatives for businesses and other organisations throughout UK, Ireland and internationally. The awards include various categories which are focused on reducing the environmental footprint of energy, transport, industry and everyday life.

The Awards party (presented by Eventure Media), which took place immediately after the Rushlight Show, at the Royal Geographical Society, London, on 25th January, was attended by organizations that are leading the way in clean technology innovation and sustainable solution deployment, investors, advisers, specialist and general media, trade associations and government departments. Mark Taylor, Deputy Director at BEIS and Head of Programme Delivery, Science and Innovation for Climate and Energy, and the guest of honour at the Awards Party, set out his past and the current activities of the department in the cleantech arena, before presenting the awards.

The Rushlight Show included key announcements by Claire Perry, Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, as well as major contributions from John Loughhead, Chief Scientific Adviser at BEIS; Rob Saunders, Head of Energy at Innovate UK; Julie Hill, Chair at WRAP and senior representatives from the Committee on Climate Change, Energy Systems Catapult, CBI, National Grid, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the NHS. Now in its 9th year, the Show (sponsored by Innovate UK, BEIS, Flanders Investment & Trade, Carbon Limiting Technologies, Sage, Granted Consultancy, Venner Shipley and Smith & Williamson), attracted over 600 cleantech CEOs and entrepreneurs, investors and financiers, advisers, corporate customers and others involved in the sector.

For further information and a list of Rushlight Awards winners visit: www.rushlightevents.com/rushlight-awards 

ASLEE partner ALIenergy succeeded in putting forward Oban as one of four local communities in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) area which have been selected through the COBEN (Community Benefits in Civic Energy) project, funded by Interreg North Sea Region Programme, for the development and implementation of a pilot Local Energy Plan.
Work is underway investigating Oban’s energy supply, demand and future potential, including all aspects of electricity, heat and transport.

ALIenergy is currently carrying out community engagement work for this project in Oban to enable all sectors of the local community to participate.  Residents can visit the interactive display in Oban Library to have their say and sign up for the virtual focus groups. When completed later this year the Local Energy Plan will form a springboard for local energy projects – aiming for an integrated, whole systems approach as outlined in the Scottish Government’s recently produced Energy Strategy, with maximum local benefit.

For further information go to: https://www.localenergy.scot/coben and https://civic-energy.eu/

Check ALIenergy’s Facebook page for up and coming COBEN events.

Xanthella Ltd and ALIenergy are very pleased to announce the start of a new pioneering project continuing the innovative work which took place in the ASLEE project. Energy and the Bioeconomy (ENBIO) project, funded by Zero Waste Scotland (www.zerowastescotland.org.uk), is highly innovative and (to our knowledge) currently unique in the world. It uses algal bioproduction to enable new industry in rural areas and at the same time increasing the strength of the rural circular economy by enabling better use of stranded timber and distillery coproducts.
The project builds on the existing LECF-funded ASLEE project which has developed a novel, class-leading internally lit photobioreactor (Pandora) whose lighting can be externally controlled to meet grid demands, allowing the PBRs to be used as a rapidly-acting balancer of local renewable energy production. The ASLEE project also demonstrated that the algae are very tolerant to light intermittency, making their production an ideal transactive load.
The ENBIO project will see sixteen 1000 litre Pandora PBRs deployed at the Ardnamurchan Estate using surplus energy from the CHP plant to produce high value algae and automatically matching local electricity demand with production. The Ardnamurchan PBR array will give Scotland a lead in industrial scale algal biotechnology in the UK.
In addition, the ENBIO project will contribute to the low carbon economy through helping reduce transport costs, displace algal imports that are currently air shipped to Scotland, achieve better use of distillery co-products and directly incorporate CO2 into the algae.
Within the project ALIenergy is working with Xanthella (www.xanthella.co.uk) and Ardnamurchan Estate (www.ardnamurchanestate.co.uk).
Representatives from the partner organisations and Zero Waste Scotland gathered for a kick off meeting at Xanthella’s offices at Malin House, Dunstaffnage, near Oban, on Thursday 26th October.

Cement is a ubiquitous product used primarily in the construction industry. In 2016 alone 4.2 billion metric tonnes of cement were used worldwide. However, the production of cement is responsible for 5 – 6 % of the global carbon dioxide (CO₂) released into the atmosphere each year. The carbon dioxide emissions occur during the manufacturing process, when limestone (Calcium Carbonate – CaCO₃) is burnt to produce quicklime (Calcium Oxide – CaO). The intense heat (1400 °C) required for the process, which is usually produced by burning fossil fuels, also releases carbon dioxide, further adding to the overall emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the industry.

In the fight to reduce GHG emissions, many countries are looking at innovative ways to decarbonise industrial processes like cement manufacture. Sweden has chosen to become zero-emissions by 2045 and has been examining how it can reduce the CO₂ emissions within its industries. Heidelberg Cement (the fourth-largest producer of cement) has a large factory in Degerhamn and is collaborating with environmental scientist Catherine Legrand from Linnaeus University in the Algoland project. The project is using algae to capture the CO₂ released during the cement manufacturing process, by bubbling the exhaust fumes from the limestone kilns through algal cultures contained in hundreds of bags. As the algae photosynthesize they use the CO₂, removing it from the flue gas, and converting it into food for growth, just as plants do on land.

The algae also produce oils and proteins which have many uses e.g. as supplementation to animal or fish feed. This means not only is the cement manufacturing process less environmentally harmful, the algal carbon capture system gives added value benefits.

For more information on the revolutionary technology being used in Sweden, click here

ASLEE partner Lynda Mitchell, from ALIenergy, recently had the opportunity to take part in the Friends of the Earth Europe Community Energy Convergence (http://foeeurope.org/europe-wide-community-power-movement-gathers-momentum-121017 ) in Catalonia, at the beautiful cooperatively-owned venue of Mas Franch near Girona.

Organised in conjunction with European Federation of Renewable Energy Cooperatives (https://rescoop.eu/ ), this event brought together over 80 participants representing the community energy sector from 20 European countries. The story of the ASLEE project sparked plenty of interest amongst the delegates with its interwoven themes of renewable energy, grid balancing, circular economy, algae, fish and remote Scottish whisky distilleries!