Impact-oriented utilization pathways for new sustainable, unexploited low trophic marine resources and fish/aquaculture wastes are one of the key pillars of the sustainable transformation of the EU blue economy. SEAREFINERY aims to establish a novel bio-based blue food/feed and blue food packaging materials production platform by embracing marine-based sources and wastes targeting five seas. The SEAREFINERY concept will be designed within a multidisciplinary and smart collaboration platform for developing a breakthrough eco-centric strategy considering the local sources, economic and social perspectives at transnational level within the EU. The specific aims of SEAREFINERY include extraction of high value-added compounds from invasive species, low trophic organisms and marine-derived by-products; utilisation of marine-based extracted materials for the development of blue food analogues (meat and cheese), functional bread, and smart and active food packaging materials; valorisation of aquaculture and fish waste for blue feed production via bacterial fermentation and microalgae cultivation; and a systematic evaluation of the products based on environmental impacts, market analysis, and consumer acceptance followed by a multi-criteria decision-making analysis. At the end of the project, this pinpoint novel approach will fulfil the needs for restoring and preserving the marine ecosystem, the need for valorisation of marine resources for a sustainable blue economy, the needs and requirements of society and end-users, as well as allow for new business models and investment schemes.
Within this framework, NMBU contributes with an experimental programme on microalgae cultivation for blue feed production. Six different marine microalgal species are currently being tested under differentiated nitrogen regimes (ammonium-, nitrate-, and mixed-N profiles with varying N:P ratios) representative of aquaculture effluents. Trials are conducted in both batch and continuous photobioreactors, allowing comparison of nutrient uptake kinetics (NH4?, NO3?, PO4³?) and protein productivity across strains and operating conditions. The resulting performance matrix will identify top-performing strains and process conditions for enhanced nutrient recovery and protein yields. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the developed systems will be performed by the Turkish partner team, while the Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) will be conducted by the Italian partner team, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed solutions.
Impact-oriented utilization pathways for new sustainable, unexploited low trophic marine resources and fish/aquaculture wastes are one of the key pillars of sustainable transformation of EU blue economy. SEAREFINERY aims to establish a novel bio-based blue food/feed and blue food packaging materials production platform by embracing marine-based sources and wastes targeting five seas. The SEAREFINERY concept will be designed within a multidisciplinary and smart collaboration platform for developing a breakthrough eco-centric strategy considering the local sources, economic and social perspectives at transnational level within the EU. The specific aims of SEAREFINERY includes extraction of high value-added compounds from invasive species, low trophic organisms and marine derived by-products, utilisation of marine-based extracted materials for development of blue food analogues (meat and cheese), functional bread, and smart and active food packaging materials, valorisation of aquaculture and fish waste for blue feed production via bacterial fermentation and microalgae cultivation, a systematic evaluation of the products based on environmental impacts, market analysis, and consumer acceptance followed by a multi-criteria decision making analysis. At the end of the project, this pin-point novel approach will fulfill the needs for restoring and preservation of the marine ecosystem, the need for valorisation of marine resources for sustainable blue economy, the needs and requirements of society and end-users as well as it will allow for new business models and investment schemes.
