Algae as a biological production platform.

Cyvora is developing controlled cultivation systems for microalgae and other photosynthetic microorganisms, with a focus on producing consistent biomass while improving cultivation efficiency, resource utilisation and downstream product quality.

Unlike conventional terrestrial crops, microalgae can be cultivated in water-based systems and do not inherently require arable soil. Their cultivation can therefore be integrated into environments where conventional agriculture is constrained, while nutrients and carbon sources can potentially be incorporated into the cultivation process.

The cultivation system is only one part of the technology. Our work considers the complete biological production chain: organism selection, cultivation conditions, nutrient management, CO₂ delivery, water management, monitoring, biomass concentration and harvesting.

Cultivation parameters

Our development work considers variables including:

• Species and strain selection
• Light availability and intensity
• Temperature
• pH
• Nutrient concentration
• CO₂ availability
• Mixing and gas transfer
• Biomass density
• Contamination control
• Harvest timing

The objective is to establish cultivation conditions that produce predictable biomass with characteristics appropriate for downstream applications.

Cyvora currently operates two functional algae cultivation models, which are the foundation for continued optimisation and scale-up. They are being developed to demonstrate the integration of algae cultivation with industrial CO₂ utilisation and biomass production.

Why this matters here

Global aquatic food production reached 223.2 million tonnes in 2022, including 37.8 million tonnes of algae, while aquaculture reached 130.9 million tonnes. Africa accounted for approximately 7% of global aquatic animal production, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

That leaves a great deal of room for locally developed biological biomass to serve animal nutrition, aquaculture feed, agricultural inputs and future bioproducts.

Our objective is therefore not to operate algae farms as an end in themselves. We are developing controlled biological cultivation as an upstream manufacturing platform for several downstream applications at once.