ALGAL BIOMASS TECHNOLOGY AND ALGAL BIO-ECONOMY IN CHINA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS  

China owns the world's largest so-called artificial cultivation and processing industry of algae. According to the FAO, the annual yield (2013) of aquatic plants (mainly algae) in China was 13.8 million tons (fresh weight), accounting for 49% of the world's production, with the outputs of 3 billion dollars, accounting for 45% of the world's total value. However, the main algal products were still low value. As the global aquatic plants accounts for 27.8% of the world's annual yield of aquaculture in 2013, the value output of the aquatic plants accounted only for 4.3% in total.

Now three bottlenecks still need to be overcome in Chinese algae industry: the quality of algal food or the public credibility of algal food remained to be improved; the lack of high-value products compared with strong market requirements, and the relatively high costs compared with large biomass demands, such as aquatic industry. Thus the 'algal biomass technology' and 'algal bio-economy' would play a critical role in the global algae business.

Algal biomass technology was referred to the technology which produces not only products but also services such as bioremediation based on algal biomass. Algal bio-economy are new theory and practice of bio-economy based on production, circulation, distribution and consumption of algal stocks, products and services. Algal biomass technology offered the basis and decided the scale of algal bio-economy development, while the latter raised the demands and direction for the development of the former.

To promote algal biomass transforming more profits and updating algal bio-economy effectively, a three-step strategy is implementing: 1) to control quality by setting up a series of standards on local, regional and national scale for meeting the public demands; 2) to develop the variety of high-value products for meeting the high-end market requirements; 3) to reduce the costs of production with a system of innovation technology for meeting strategic resources reservation.  

Research progress, technological development and service network establishment could be the important impetus for the sustainable development of the algae industry. The "Algae Dream of Chinese People" is to provide healthy food and high-value products for people directly or indirectly, meet the aquatic market demands, fix carbon dioxide and reduce eutrophication, promoting algae to keep the pace with evolution of our earth friendly. And the goal to meet the public demands on health and aquatic industry will come true in ten years, including at less 3000 t microalgae biomass with the cost being about US3000 t⁻¹ for the aquaculture market.