How Are Microalgae Cultivated in Iceland?

In the Research Group of Algal and Microbial Biotechnology, we focus on the use of microalgae in food and environmental technologies. In this lecture, I will summarize my one-year internship in the R&D department of the biotechnology company Algalíf in Iceland, which specializes in the large-scale cultivation of microscopic algae in closed, fully controlled photobioreactors. The main production organism is Haematococcus pluvialis, from which the antioxidant astaxanthin is produced using a unique three-stage cultivation process. Other projects pursued by the company’s R&D department include the production of fucoxanthin, another natural carotenoid with antioxidant properties, and amphidinols, compounds with antifungal and cytotoxic properties that can be used in the production of biopesticides. My main tasks involved scaling up the cultivation of the microalga Amphidinium carterae from a few liters to a final volume of 6 m³, optimizing biomass harvesting procedures, refining the extraction process for amphidinols, and developing an analytical method for quantifying amphidinols.