The international marine bioproducts market is estimated to be worth around $175 billion a year. Kim Berry writes about a university/industry research project that is looking to tap into this lucrative sector. This story was first published in Food & Drink Business March 2021.
At Beachport on South Australia’s Limestone Coast, a research project between Flinders University’s Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development (CMBD) and Australian Kelp Products (AKP) has been underway for more than a decade.
CMDB director Professor Wei Zhang says Australia’s vast shoreline and relatively pristine waters provide myriad untapped renewable bioresources that could be a part of that lucrative market.
He explains, “We have worked with Australian Kelp Products for over a decade, developing new products and processes to put beach-cast seaweeds into value-added commodities.”
With the global vegan market forecast to be worth $28.6 billion by 2025, the partnership is eyeing the booming vegan market for organic, eco-friendly nutritional goods to produce new seaweed-derived ingredients and functional food products.
Founded at Beachport in 1994, AKP holds the only seaweed sustainable development licence on mainland Australia. The company produces organic fertiliser and cattle feed via a system able to expand into higher value materials for foodstuffs, industrial and medical products.
AKP CEO Leo Lin says the project aims to provide AKP with the scientific expertise needed to attract investors and other partners, to produce the eco- and vegan-friendly seaweed functional foods and ingredients for both domestic and global markets.
Zhang says South Australia hosts one of the highest diversities of macroalgae (seaweeds) in the world.
“There are abundant species such as brown algae in the genera Ecklonia, Durvillaea, Macrocystis and Sargassum, and green algae including Ulva spp. (sea lettuce), Monostroma spp. and Caulerpa spp. (seagrapes), used to enrich soups, salads and other culinary treats around the world,” he says.
With macroalgal preparations and extracts now a common sight in health-food stores and pharmacies, Zhang says their bioactive compounds can have strong antioxidant effects and contain essential vitamins and minerals such as iodine, vitamin K, B vitamins, iron, and zinc, which can promote gut, skin and brain health.
Zhang is also the leader and research director of the Marine Bioproducts Cooperative Research Centre (MB CRC) bid. It aims to develop the third generation of Australian high-value marine bioindustry, building on the first generation of fisheries and the second generation of aquaculture.
The emerging marine bioproducts sector has the potential to become a globally competitive industry, he says.
The long-term partnership between Flinders University researchers and the macroalgal manufacturing industry is also developing new 3D-printable alginate-based bioinks from local seaweeds, such as Ecklonia radiata (E. radiata) and Durvillaea potatorum (D. potatorum) to make medical quality 3D-printing biomaterials, which are also experiencing rising demand around the world.
This productive collaboration continues to deliver.
