The Problem: Tropical oils (palm, palm kernel, and coconut) have a negative environmental impact (namely: deforestation). Europe is completely dependent on import. These oils give unique functionalities to food and personal care products (crystallization, melting, mouth feel), because of the medium-chain fatty acids (C8-C14) for which there are no vegetable-oil alternatives. The Netherlands is the largest importer of tropical oils in Europe. Europe wants to completely stop deforestation due to tropical oil production .
Our solution: Nannochloropsis is a microalga containing up to 50% oils at superior productivities. Using our patent-pending gene-expression system, we wil engineer this microalga to produce oils with the same functionality as tropical oils.
Impact: Our techno-economic studies showed competitive production costs from 10 ha. With our technology tropical oils can be produced in Europe as a sustainable alternative to production in tropical zones (SDG1, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15).
