Algae- The so-called “Super-Food”
An introduction to the field of algae culture
We all know by now that our climate is deteriorating at a concerning rate. With everything going on in the world, one of the biggest problems is climate change. But many sectors affect our climate. One of the second biggest is the agriculture industry, accounting for around a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions.
Right now, people are working on creating solutions to conserve resources or trying to pinpoint areas within the agriculture industry which are making the most negative impact. If you didn’t already know, animal agriculture accounts for most of the emissions in that sector.
Apart from the newest innovations like cellular agriculture or better protein with plants or artificial meat, there is another protein substitute that isn’t entirely new but very old, dating back to when humans didn’t even exist. I’m talking about algae!
When people think of algae, they often think of seaweed or green muck in the water, so they automatically think it’s gross. Still, I think it’s fantastic with its capabilities, including protein alternatives, carbon capture, and biomaterials.
But let’s go back a little. Apart from these exciting use cases, algae goes back almost 2.3 billion years. During that time, something called the GREAT OXYGENATION EVENT happened. That was when the first sources of cyanobacteria (a type of algae, later to be known as Spirulina), which lived in the ocean, started to produce oxygen through photosynthesis. Essentially, algae actually created the world we are living in today 🤯 .
So, What exactly is Algae?
Let’s take a pause from the hype-innovative technology and learn more about what exactly is this extremely interesting organism and its capabilities.
Essentially algae is a pretty broad term to describe an aquatic, eukaryotic organism that can also undergo photosynthesis. Still, unlike regular plants, they lack a vascular system, leaves, stems and roots.
There are two types of algae, macroalgae and microalgae.
Macroalgae, hence the name, is the bigger type of algae, which is multicellular. Macroalgae is sewed and its other cousins; it can be any type of algae only if multicellular. It can be grown in almost any type of water, preferably salt water and can be harvested naturally or farmed by aquaculture farms. Besides other nutritional benefits, macroalgae protein levels can reach up to 47%. It is more common to find different types of macroalgae such as seaweed or noki in Asian culture dishes.
Microalgae, the micro version, is just a single cell type of algae. Some of the most common forms include spirulina and chlorella. They can grow in any water and are versatile, so you don’t have to have fresh water. Microalgae protein rates are much higher than macroalgae, reaching up to 50–70% protein. It can be harvested as a paste or dried to create a powder.
So remember what I was saying about algae being eukaryotic organisms? Well, all types of algae are eukaryotic, BUT there is an exception for cyanobacteria which is prokaryotic.
If you’re confused and don’t know what those terms mean, eukaryotic cells contain a nucleus and organelles bound together by the plasma membrane. On the other hand, prokaryotes are the opposite, not having a plasma membrane to hold the organelles together.
Here is an example of the two most common micro algae, chlorella and spirulina cells. the first one is eukaryotic, and the second is prokaryotic
Think of the cells as suitcases. Eukaryotic being organized, everything is sorted in packing cubes all fit together where everything should be. The prokaryotic is like when you randomly stuff everything inside your suitcase, and everything is just free-flowing.
Algae can be grown in several ways, the primary 2 being open bioreactors and closed bioreactors. Though these methods are not at their most efficient, there are still innovations to help the farming process easier.
The open bioreactor is like a giant pond but in a raceway track style. It has nothing covering it, and the algae within it can grow without any freshwater being used! That might not sound crazy, but we use 1590 gallons on just 1 pound of meat, and it has to be fresh water. There is also spinner with rotating blades that helps circulate the algae since it must be agitated and moved around to grow.
The main downsides are that it depends on the climate where the algae are grown. Many of these open bioreactors are in the desert, but since the weather can’t be controlled all the time, it’s a bit unpredictable and might prevent algae from going constantly. Another big thing is that anything like nasty bacteria or insects can come into the algae and contaminate the batch. In this form, it’s also hard to control them from coming in.
The closed bioreactor is basically like the open bioreactor but with a roof on top, which enables us to control the temperature and have high pH levels, giving us a higher production rate since everything is much more controlled. There are a few problems with this method, including the construction and infrastructure costs which are a bit higher.
For a more in-depth explanation of this process and more explanation of how spirulina is cultivated, I will be posting an article on that very soon :)
What are the benefits?
Algae has tons of benefits for your body, including vitamin a, vitamin e, vitamin b 3 and loads of protein.
Believe it or not, algae has more nutrients than any other protein food source! It has the highest protein concentration and a complete protein source, meaning it has all the essential and nonessential amino acids you need. If you don’t know already, amino acids are essentially your “protein building blocks” in ways needed in your body’s metabolic process and to create your body’s cells, tissues, and muscles.
What’s also crazy is that meat actually takes our body to break down and absorb animal protein but only gets 10% of all amino acids. On the other hand, our bodies can process algae in just minutes, and we absorb 99% of the nutrients that these almost magical microorganisms can hold.
Although meat includes protein, it’s weighed down by all of the adverse effects when growing the animals and doesn’t compare much to the other nutritional benefits of algae. Unlike algae, meat includes other unnecessary or unhealthy benefits to your body, like fatty acids, bad fats, and calories.
For comparison, the protein in a Spirulina tablet is around 64%, but compared to other protein sources, it is much more. Steak is at 24%, fish at 22%, eggs at 12, chickpeas at 8% and milk at 3%.
The uses
Apart from algae being an amazing protein/nutrient source, it has loads of other capabilities, the primary three being for food, carbon capture and bioproducts.
Protein
This is one of the most popular applications with algae, and many people are currently working in this field. Several companies like SpiraInc, produce different types of algae in powder form or the paste version.
One of them that I was mainly intrigued by isn’t an official spirulina company but rather a research and design lab for a famous company, IKEA.
If you know what Ikea is and have ever been there, you probably have either been here or tried their amazing meatballs that it’s so well known for (after its furniture). Space10 wanted to try something different and incorporate spirulina into their meals to create sustainable foods that also taste amazing!
They were trying to rethink their regular meatball by using other protein sources like spirulina, lab-grown meat and insects. Essentially, they created something called the “dogless dog” by making the bun out of algae and filling it with vegetables.
Check out their article on their other innovations as well, https://space10.com/the-fast-food-of-the-future/
Carbon Capture
Carbon capture is one of the areas with algae that has a lot of potential but has yet to be unlocked fully. There are many capabilities for capturing carbon, but some methods at the moment aren’t as efficient or are just too pricey.
One company that caught my attention was ecoLogicStudio which created a tree-like man-made structure. They called it an Urban algae folly. It was a bio-digital canopy that had microalgae circulating inside to produce protein. It would produce protein equal to a few pounds of meat per day. It also provides shade for visitors in this garden area to get shade.
For the carbon capture part, it consumes over ten times more carbon dioxide than a regular tree and releases oxygen. If you know basic biology, trees absorb carbon into their trunks/roots and release oxygen back into the air. But with algae, it also needs carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, so instead, it absorbs the carbon to create more algae.
Check out their website for more great projects w/ algae and sustainability: https://www.ecologicstudio.com/projects/expo-milano-2015-urban-algae-folly.
Algae has so much potential in our future lives to create a sustainable and better future. I still have yet to explore this field, but there are many applications with several gaps like scalability to be solved.
If you enjoyed this article, give it a round of applause. Make sure to check out some of my other articles. If you’re interested in algae, I’ll be publishing some more in-depth articles soon!
:)
