Alex Trelinski
TWO new Alicante companies have joined forces to cultivate algae that stops nitrate pollution in water, as infamously seen over recent years at Murcia’s Mar Menor lagoon.
Mediterranean Algae and G2G Algae Solutions have won an Agritech Startup Europe Award which encourages solutions to environmental and climate change issues.
The success of the two companies, which have only been going for over a year, means they will get training in applying for European funding to take their joint-project, known as ALGALI-TIC, onto the next stage.
If successful, they could win grants totalling up to €7 million.
Co-founder of Mediterranean Algae, Alejandro Simon, said: “This award is a firm step towards a direction in which we have been working for months.”
“We believe in the enormous potential of algae to reverse the current environmental situation and in turn generate products that improve agricultural yields,” Simon added.
The ALGALI-TIC project is about how to avoid nitrate discharges, since algae have used nitrates and phosphates to grow, and those are the compounds that have polluted the Mar Menor.
The two start-ups want to roll out their new cultivated form of eco-friendly algae in a pilot scheme, possibly in a local river.
Besides the environmental positives of the new algae, the benefits are that the agri-food sector can improve water management during the process of growing organic crops and to monitor nutrient flows.
READ MORE:
- Toxic bacteria is polluting several reservoirs in Alicante and Murcia areas of Spain
- Why the Mar Menor in Spain has become Europe’s saddest example of environmental vandalism
- 43 companies face court summons over Mar Menor water pollution in Murcia region of Spain
