Project: Algoland – Cleaning the water

Facts about the project

Project manager
Elin Lindehoff
Other project members
Catherine Legrand (Co-PI), Hanna Farnelid, Fredrik Svensson, Lina Mattsson Quyen Nham, Caroline Littlefield, Laura Bas Conn, Christien Laber, Anders Månsson, Joacim Rosenlund, Javier Alegria
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University, Kalmar Energi
Financier
KK-stiftelsen, EcoChange, FORMAS, Familjen Kamprads stiftelse, Kalmar Kommun, Växjö Kommun, Kalmar Energi, Swedish Agro, WSP, SMA mineral, Voxtorps garden, Energimyndigheten, Stiftelsen lantbruksforskning, Kretslopp Sydost
Subject
Ecology (Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences)
Research group
Algoland – Algal Solutions for Air, Water, Industry and Society
Knowledge environment
Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: Water

More about the project

Algoland - Cleaning the water is a project within our research group - Algoland, which researches biological solutions to societal problems. In Cleaning the water, we look at how microalgae can be used to clean excess nutrients from leachate water (Moskogen/Kalmar Energi power plant), and also research mussel farming as a means to reduce eutrophication in the Baltic Sea (Hagby mussel farms). 

Location: Moskogen, Kalmar
At Moskogen, a landfill in Kalmar, Sweden, nutrient-rich leachate water runs into a reservoir. We examine the potential of micro algae to clean nitrogen from the water. Algal production is supported by the CO2 produced by the Kalmar Energi power plant, also located in Moskogen.
Phosphorus is a biproduct of the renewable energy production (wood chips) and is used in the production of algal biomass, which can ultimately be turned into valuable bioproducts.

Location: Mussel Farms, Hagby
Mussels grow in coastal areas and can act as a nutrient sink in the Baltic Sea with no added resources. Mussels filter seawater to obtain their natural food of choice: microalgae. Once the mussels have had their fill of microalgae, they are "harvested," or collected from the sea, thus cleaning the water of excess nutrients. The biomass of algae-fed mussels can then be turned into useful resources, like animal feed.

The project is part of the research in the research group Marine phytoplankton ecology and applications, Linnaeus University Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial model Systems (EEMiS) and in Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: Water