Algalif Iceland BFM 84

ALGALIF ICELAND

LEADING A YOUNG INDUSTRY

ALGALIF ICELAND

2 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

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ALGALIF ICELAND

FROM THEIR HOME IN ICELAND, ALGALIF IS LEADING THE WAY IN SUPPLYING HIGH-GRADE NATURAL ASTAXANTHIN PRODUCTS.

LEADING A YOUNG INDUSTRY PROJECT MANAGED BY: DEAN BROWN

Algalif’s mission is to help solve the nutritional needs of current and future generations through the development and delivery of sustainable, high-quality microalgae ingredients. As well as producing astaxanthin products, Algalif also possesses a portfolio of immune-health ingredients under the Nutramunity™ Beta-Glucan (NBG®) brand, for use in food, beverages, nutraceuticals, sports nutrition, and personal care products.

T

Orri Bjornsson, Algalif Iceland’s CEO.

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he business is part of the international ingredients company Sana Pharma Holding, which was founded in 2002 to work in the ingredient manufacturing, food supplements, medical devices and over-the-counter medicines sectors. Sana Pharma has presences in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, and a team of more than 150 employees.

As part of that group, Algalif is able to provide high-grade natural astaxanthin products from microalgae, including ingredients and finished formulations.

“We’re a biotechnology company using and selling microalgae products since 2014. We’re based in Iceland after starting out in Norway and have mostly been focused on

selling one ingredient called astaxanthin,” explains Orri Bjornsson, Algalif Iceland’s CEO. “The business has been growing fast since the beginning. We had a $10 million turnover in 2020 and expect to achieve $13 million this year. We have 40 employees here in Iceland and have started investing $31 million with an expansion project starting this spring making us the biggest astaxanthin producer in the world.”

CLEAN ALGAE

Algalif has committed itself to providing a reliable supply of high-quality, pure, sustainable astaxanthin from algae. The company’s specialised indoor production process has been designed for pure Icelandic water and renewable energy to deliver high yields of premium quality.

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DURAN® borosilicate glass from SCHOTT

Let‘s bring light to algae.

By developing special glass tubing and couplings, we give algae producers the possibility to have an ideal technical and economic solution for the construction of photobioreactors for algae cultivation. Glass is the ideal material for algae cultivation: Smooth interior surfaces are easy to clean, protect against bio-contamination and ensure food grade algae quality.

With a lifetime of over 50 years and a consistently high light transmission, glass offers a cost effective and productive solution.

What‘s your next milestone? www.schott.com/pbr

SCHOTT AG, Tubing, fritz.wintersteller@schott.com, Phone +49 (0)9633 80-304

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SCHOTT

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The universal agitator bead mill

With a production capacity of more than 190,000 tons and production sites in Europe, South America and Asia, SCHOTT Tubing is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of glass tubes, rods and profiles. More than 60 different glass types are produced in a large variety of dimensional and cosmetic specifications based on a standardized production process and a global quality assurance system. SCHOTT Tubing provides customized products and services for international growth markets such as pharmaceuticals and electronics as well as industrial and environmental engineering.

Phototrophic algae needs light, water, carbon dioxide and nutrients to grow. Naturally, phototrophic algae grow in saltwater or freshwater lakes. In the industrial cultivation of algae, photobioreactors (PBR) are used instead. They allow optimal control of breeding conditions and provide the algae with an ideal habitat. The benefits: higher growth rates, higher purity of breeding and predictable production processes.

SCHOTT offers technically and economically superior products for PBRs to the algae market. Borosilicate glass tubing DURAN® allow for optimum light input for the highest growth rates. With glass U-bends, manifolds and food-grade couplings we provide reliable and long lasting solutions for bio-secure algae cultivation of haematococcus, spirulina and others.

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“We grow our algae here in Iceland. We use renewable energy for everything we do.

We have an abundance of fresh water in Iceland, unlike some other companies working with microalgae,” Bjornsson tells us. “We have very high-quality production processes, with strong levels of control at every stage. So when all of that is brought together with the fact that Iceland is a green country, most of our customers prefer to buy from us because of the clear quality of the product for use in a variable environment.”

Indeed, Algalif’s Icelandic location is a crucial part of the company’s identity. The country provides the perfect starting point for Algalif’s algae cultivation in its astoundingly pristine environment, free of contaminants and pollutants, as well as access to abundant, pure water and a continuous supply of renewable energy.

This last advantage is critical, as astaxanthin production needs energy, and electricity

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ALGALIF ICELAND

requirements can be a huge contributor to the environmental footprints of manufacturers that rely on non-renewable energy resources such as fossil fuels.

Iceland is rich in hydro and geothermal resources and generates 100% of its electricity from clean energy. Having access to that is an essential part of Algalif’s process in bringing its products to the marketplace.

The Algalif facility draws 100% of its power from geothermal energy, and its proprietary lighting system enables that facility to reduce overall energy consumption by 50%, in addition to providing for optimal microalgae growth, productivity and yield.

As well as electricity, water is another essential ingredient in the growth of algae, and once again, Iceland gives Algalif access to an abundant supply of some of the purest water in the world. Icelandic water is extremely clean, low in minerals and almost sterile from its source. However, just because this water is plentiful doesn’t mean Algalif will be wasteful with it.

Algalif’s production methods allow for close to 0% water evaporation, where some other manufacturers lose up to 20% of water per day. Algalif minimizes cooling, heating and water movement during its production process, drastically reducing water-waste in the facility.

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“WE HAVE AN ABUNDANCE OF FRESH WATER IN ICELAND, UNLIKE SOME OTHER COMPANIES WORKING WITH MICROALGAE.” A GROWING INDUSTRY

Algalif is off to a strong start, with a healthy, and growing business.

“We’ve done quite well from the beginning, especially in the last two-to-three years. We see a bright future and the market is growing steadily,” says Bjornsson.

However, Bjornsson is also quick to point out that this is only the start of their journey.

“This industry is very new and undeveloped in many ways, so when we started, we had many challenges to overcome,” Bjornsson says. “The technology wasn’t fully developed and we had to replan and reorganise most of our major systems. The light installations, for instance, weren’t the right type so we had to change that completely.

We had to install cooling units to control the temperature because the heat created from using a lot of energy. There were a lot of technological challenges but in the last few years we’ve been doing very well in solving those issues completely without too much of a hardship for the company.”

That they are operating in such a young industry brings other challenges with it as well, particularly in terms of human resources.

“Because the industry is undeveloped there is not an abundance of talent out there.

So, our focus has been on retaining people as long as possible, finding people with good background and good education, and keep training them,” Bjornsson says. “We send them to seminars and conferences to develop their skills and they stay with us in the long run. We have a core team that has stayed with us for many years.”

But while the industry is young, with the energy, water and human resources Algalif has behind it, Bjornsson is predicting great things for the future of the company.

“I see us growing quite fast over the next three or four years to become the biggest producer of astaxanthin in the world,” he says. “I foresee us expanding our offering into other kinds of algae over the next two-toten years. We can develop the market in significant volumes and become one of the biggest microalgae growers in the world with our expertise helping us to continue to grow for the foreseeable future.”

“I SEE US GROWING QUITE FAST OVER THE NEXT THREE OR FOUR YEARS TO BECOME THE BIGGEST PRODUCER OF ASTAXANTHIN IN THE WORLD.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

ALGALIF ICELAND

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ALGALIF ICELAND

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