Production of Cosmetics Ingredients by Algae - potential & technological challenges from an industrial plant

manufacturer’s perspective.

Edgar Ahn, pHD; CSO

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BDI at a glance

Professional, innovative plant engineering and

construction company

Specialized in tailor-made, turn-key solutions

Covering whole process chain

Bench-mark technologies “from waste to value“,

based on in-house r&d

20 years experience with more than 35 reference

plants on 4 continents

Key figures 2011:

Staff: 140 employees, HQ Grambach/Graz

Turnover: € 35 Mio

Equity ratio: 64%

Stock market listed in Frankfurt

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BDI research & development since the beginning of the 80s

Active membership

Close cooperation

with universities

BDI research center

since 2003

Modern, fully equiped

laboratories and

testing facilities

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Research Focus

BioFuels:

Validation of new raw materials for biodiesel &

biogas production,

development of new methods for biodiesel

production – REPCAT

development of new products – OMEGA 3+

BtL:

Biomass-to-Liquid fuel production (bioCRACK)

BioTech:

BioDiesel and biomaterials from algae

(e.g.: Astaxanthin)

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- Algae are the oldest plants on earth. (~ 25.000 species/100.000 sub-species; only 10 species industrially used)

- Algae are real survival artists. (life in salt or sweet water, in desert, in arctic, in soil, on rocks...)

- Algae are nutrient accumulators. (highest nutritient density of all plants; rich in minerals, micronutrients, amino acids, vitamines etc.;)

- Algae clean up the sea. (capable to filter toxins and heavy metals out of water and degrade them)

- Algae produce oxygen. (through photosythesis CO2 biomass + O2; 2/3 of worldwide O2-production)

source: http://www.biomaris.com/algen

Basics of algae

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- Algae oil new alternative feedstock for biodiesel production

- Expected advantages:

• higher oil yields/ha

(50 – 140 to/ha/a; rapeseedoil = 3 to/ha/a; Palmoil = 6 to/ha/a)*

• Non-food-based biofuel production possible (non-iLUC)

• Climate independant production

• Using only light and (waste)-CO2

* source:biodiesel from microalgae, Y. Chisti, 2007

BDI original algae approach

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Phototrophic production concept

Algae biomass Proteins

Carbon hydrates

Lipids

O2

CO2

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Cost of algae oil production are comparatively high:

• realistic oil yields are much lower

• algae/water separation energy intensive

• oil/algae separation energy intensive

• further oil treatment necessary lipid content ≠ transesterifiable oil content

• adjustments of traditional biodiesel technology necessary

• CO2-reduction potential limited/questionable

• economically viable only within subsidy system (RED = quadriple counting)

danger of fraud!!

But:

Algae are „high-performance“ reactors, capable of producing all different types of high-valuable products

-

Algae oil production evaluation

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- High-value food, functional food, food additives

- Carotenoids and other pigments

- Essential fatty acids, amino acids and vitamines

- Enzymes and other proteins

- Antibiotic, antiviral and other pharmacologic active

substances

- Energie (biogas, H2, biodiesel)

- CO2-fixation and recycling

- N2-fixation (NH4+-production)

Microalgae-production: ~ 8.000 to/a ~ 6 bn US$/a*

(China, Japan, Taiwan, Israel, India, USA, France, Germany, Sweden)

* source: Produkte und Anwendungen der Mikroalgenbiotechnologie; TERM, Griehl, Pulz, Kerner; 2007

Algae products

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Global Market for microalgae products*

Product group

Products Price [US $]

Turnover [Mio. US $]

Trend

1. biomass Health & Functional food Animal feed additives Aquaculture Fertilizer

40 – 80 /kg

10 – 130 /kg 50 – 150 /kg

> 10 /kg

2.050 - 3.300

300 700

-

rising steep rising steep rising promising

2. pigments Astaxanthin -carotine Phycocyanin Phycoerythrin

> 3.000 /kg > 750 /kg > 500 /kg

> 10.000 /kg

< 150 < 280 > 10 > 2

rising promising stagnant stagnant

3. fatty acids (antioxidants)

ARA (Arachidon acid)

DHA (Docosahexaen acid)

EPA (Eicosapertaen acid)

PUFA-Extracts

740/kg

6250/kg 30 – 80/kg

20 1.500

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rising steep rising - -

* source: Produkte und Anwendungen der Mikroalgenbiotechnologie; TERM, Griehl, Pulz, Kerner; 2007

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Microalgae products in cosmetics

Algae used as:

- Thickening agents

- Water-binding agents

- Antioxidants

- Containing proteins, vitamin A, sugar, starch,

vitamin B1, iron, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium,

copper, and calcium

- Beneficial for skin

eliminate wrinkling, heal skin etc.

Industrial algae production

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Industrial algae production systems

pre-

cultivation

algae

cultivation

algae/water

separation

algae BM

drying

cell disruption

& extraction

algae BM

Pure

substance

• functial

food,

• cosmetics

algae BM

residue

• pharma

• cosmetics

• Biogas

• compost

water recycling li

gh

t

CO

2

nu

trie

nts

solvent

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Algae production systems

Airlift reactors (Plate Panel Photobioreaktor)

Klötze, Subitec, Germany

Open ponds / raceways

Open cultivation

Sapphire Energy, San Diego

Horizontal tubes

Closed cultivation

Stirred Bioreactors

Astareal, Sweden

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• closed photobioreactor with artificial-/ sun-light

• stabil, controllable light-input

• no additional biomass necessary – only CO2

• low contamination risk

• no sterilisation necessary - less energy input

• less MSR-demand due to larger volume

• efficient water consumption – less evaporation

• no geographic dependency

• no seasonal dependency

BDI Reactor system

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Astaxanthin

chemical structure: C40H52O4 - Astaxanthin

What is Astaxanthin?

• natural pigment – belongs to carotenoid

• causes red colour in salmon and crab

• feed supplement (E 161j) for fish

Production:

• synthetic route (BASF)

• microbial from yeast or from algae

Effect:

• UV-radiation protection

• Antioxidants (10 times more effective as Vitamin E)

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Haematococcus pluvialis - Chlorophycae (green algae)

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Haematococcus pluvialis - cultivation

• 2 step cultivation for different life cycles of algae

• 2 reactors for cell growth and Astaxanthin-production

optimized conditions in „growth reactor“

establishing stress factor in Astaxanthin-production reactor

Endproduct:

Dried algae biomass

Astaxanthin production Growth

Light Nutrients

CO2

Stress factor CO2

Light Nutrients

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Pigments from Microalgae

1. step 2. step 2-step cultivation:

1. algae cultivation in photobioreactor

under optimized conditions –

cells growth (100 mg BM/l*d) until

max. biomass concentration (~1g BM/l).

2. Astaxanthin production due to stress

initiation (e.g. lack of nutritient, higher salt

concentration, increase of light…) –

cells change into „enduring stage“ and

start producing Astaxanthin

(~5g BM/l with ~ 3wt.% Astaxanthin/BM).

3. algae/water separation

4. a.) drying algae biomass

b.) Cell disruption

+ extraction of pure end product

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- Biotechnological production regime („living“ reactor)

• exact management of CO2, nutrients and light

PCS

• change in algae environment growth / stress regime

Multi-step reactor system

• Danger of contamination (bacteria, „foreign“ algae)

closed system, avoid sterilisation, minimize energy cost

- Highly diluted system

water management & recycling

Challenges for algae production

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- Light management cheap but controllable light source

- „Controlled“ cell disruption not during growth & production, but at extraction

- Analytics of substances in algae biomass matrix reliable analysis method

- Efficient product separation energy opitmized

- End product purification depending on product quality?

algae BM vs. pure substance simple drying vs. solvent extraction or

HP-supercritical fluid extraction

Challenges for algae production

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The production of cosmetics ingredients

is challenging but a:

Challenges for algae production

Thank you for your kind attention!