Stand-alone production of algal products on Bonaire for food, feed, chemicals and fuels

Bonaire aims to increase economic diversification. Economic growth towards a more knowledge-based economy will make the island less dependent on tourism. The objective of this project is to develop a technology for stand-alone production of algal products for food, feed, chemicals and energy making use of resources available on Bonaire and with that create sustainable economic activities. This objective is in line with the concept of small developing island states (SDIS).

Algae and cyanobacteria have numerous applications in the food, feed, chemicals and fuel sectors. The project aims to build new knowledge to enable successful commercial algae cultivation. It is our objective to realize a pilot plant for algae and cyanobacteria production prior to commercial production on Bonaire and other Caribbean islands.

Production of algae will be done with local native strains with tolerance for high temperatures (up to 50 oC) using local resources (sun, seawater, CO2 and nutrients). Marine microalgae and cyanobacteria will be isolated from marine environments. Selection criteria are: high temperature and salt tolerance, high productivity and valuable products. After characterization of the metabolites of the isolated strains, their physiology and kinetics will be studied to set the basis for a commercial production process.

Solar conditions on Bonaire are excellent for phototrophic production of microalgae. An important cost factor in algae production is temperature control. Temperatures in production systems will be high because the reactor systems absorb solar energy. We will select microalgae and cyanobacteria which tolerate high temperatures, develop in seawater submerged photobioreactors to manage the temperature and produce commercial relevant products.