Description du projet
Les algues, une source alternative et naturelle de protéines
Avec la hausse de la demande en protéines à la fois pour nourrir les animaux et les personnes, l’UE a besoin de 30 millions de tonnes de soja importé chaque année. Ainsi, l’UE devient dépendante du soja importé. Cette source de protéines devient insoutenable pour l’Europe d’un point de vue environnemental et économique, ce qui entraîne des préoccupations quant à l’avenir de la sécurité alimentaire. Par conséquent, il existe une demande croissante pour trouver une alternative naturelle aux protéines qui soit peu coûteuse. Le projet ALEHOOP, financé par l’UE, fera la démonstration de bioraffineries durables axées sur les légumineuses et les macroalgues dans des initiatives pilotes visant à extraire des protéines alimentaires comme protéines alternatives naturelles, à partir de la biomasse résiduelle des algues et des plantes destinées à l’alimentation du bétail. Le projet entend contribuer à réduire la dépendance de l’UE vis-à-vis des protéines importées et à augmenter la sécurité des matières premières.
Objectif
ALEHOOP provides the demonstration at pilot scale of both sustainable macroalgae and legume-based biorefineries for the recovery of low-cost dietary proteins from alga-based and plant residual biomass and their validation to meet market requirements of consumers and industry in the food and feed sectors. In these sectors, consumers are demanding affordable functional natural proteins from alternative sources and industry is demanding low-cost bio-based protein formulations with better performance and higher sustainability.
Current protein demand for the 7.3 billion inhabitants of the world is approximately 202 Mt. Due to the rise in meat consumption more proteins are therefore required for animal feeding. To satisfy the current protein demand, Europe imports over 30 Mt of soy from the Americas each year mainly for animal feeding, entailing 95% dependency of EU on imported soy. Current sources of proteins are becoming unsustainable from an economic and environmental perspective for Europe resulting in concerns for sustainability and food security and leading to search for new alternative proteins.
ALEHOOP addresses the obtaining of proteins from green macroalgal blooms, brown seaweed by-products from algae processors and legume processing by-products (peas, lupines, beans and lentils) as alternative protein sources for animal feeding (case of green seaweed) and food applications (case of brown seaweed and legume by-products), since they are low cost and under-exploited biomass that do not compete with traditional food crops for space and resources. This will reduce EU´s dependency on protein imports and contribute to our raw material security. The new proteins will be validated in foods for elderly, sporty and overweight people, vegetarians and healthy consumers as well as for animal feed creating cross-sectorial interconnection between these value chains and supporting the projected business plan.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- agricultural sciencesagricultural biotechnologybiomass
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedslegumes
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandryanimal feed
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.2.1.4. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Biotechnology
- H2020-EU.3.2.6. - Bio-based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBI-JTI)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
IA - Innovation actionCoordinateur
28021 Madrid
Espagne
L’entreprise s’est définie comme une PME (petite et moyenne entreprise) au moment de la signature de la convention de subvention.