Turning problem sea algae into a replacement for plastic (BBC)
By Jo Harper
Excessive outbreaks of seaweed are clogging up waters from the Caribbean to the Baltic. Now the algae is being harvested alongside farmed crops to create ingredients for cosmetics and food products.
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Some six years ago Ms Granström, a Finnish biochemist, determined to tackle the problem herself. She'd harvest the algae and use it to make ingredients for a host of products. In addition to cosmetics and human food, the algae extracts can be used in detergents, animal feed, packaging, and even as a replacement for plastic.
This comes as there is a growing trend for seaweed to be harvested for such purposes, as a replacement to oil-based ingredients.
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Ms Granström says she worked on the project as "a hobby for a long time", before in 2019 setting up a company called Origin by Ocean (ObO). She is the chief executive.
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ObO's pilot processing is done at a facility in northern Finland. It uses a patented biorefinery technology it calls "Nauvu" to separate the algae into numerous useable materials.
These are then sold to food, cosmetics, textiles, packing and agricultural companies.
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more: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64317261
Would like to know more about this "biorefinery" process.
Of course, harvesting algal blooms isn't quite as good as preventing them in the first place -- but read the article.
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