ALGAL biorefinery of biogas digestate to high VAlue fuNctional IngredientS through circular approachEs

2026-07-22

The anaerobic digestion (AD) industry is currently facing serious environmental and economic challenges due to the restrictions on the usage of digestate (the slurry residue of the process), coupled with reductions in subsidies for biogas production. It is important for the biogas industry to shift towards an AD biorefinery approach to make valuable co-products from the digestate fraction while recovering nutrients. Algae is an efficient tool for recovering the nutrients due to its ability to assimilate the nutrients efficiently while producing biomass rich in proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. However, there are no relevant commercially-operating algal digestate treatment plants due to the high energy inputs required for producing and harvesting the algae. ALGALVANISE will advance the state-of-the art by developing two novel concepts: 1) enzyme-assisted enhanced algal cultivation; and 2) combinatorial bioflocculation using bacteria and biopolymers. These two processes are targeted towards efficient nutrient recovery by algae from the digestate and harvesting high-quality algal biomass to produce high-value functional ingredients. The proposed body of research involves extensive training of the hosted researcher in the development of skills that will have a clear positive impact regarding her professional development and career opportunities. It is expected that ALGALVANISE will enable the Researcher to progress significantly with regards to her career goals, a primary one regards being an independent researcher that can develop commercially-relevant high-impact research projects that develop and demonstrate innovations that can ultimately be deployed at flagship facilities. The innovations developed in ALGALVANISE could themselves ultimately lead to a flagship AD-algal biorefinery or they could develop the Researcher’s skills to such a degree that she could lead flagship projects, based on other technologies, in the future.

Ireland

2026-02-15