MACRO CASCADE – Cascading Marine Macroalgal Biorefinery

MACRO CASCADE will prove the concept of the cascading marine macroalgal biorefinery i.e. a production platform that covers the whole technological chain for processing sustainable cultivated macro-algae biomass – also known as seaweed - to highly processed value added products. The macro-algae biorefinery will be capable of processing multiple feedstocks, by deploying a range of mechanical, physicochemical and enzymatic pre-processing and fractionation techniques combined with chemical, enzymatic or microbial conversion refinery techniques for generation of a diversity of added-value products for industries within food, feed, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and fine chemicals. Algae based products for food, feed, cosmetics, pharmaceutical will be tested and documented for their bio-activities and health properties. The participation of two major industries and five SMEs demonstrate a significant commercial interest in the outcome MACRO CASCADE. The MACRO CASCADE approach contributes to the “zero waste society” as the left-over residuals from the biorefinery process can be used for fertilizers and bio-energy.