Future Impact

The AQUACOMBINE project aim at broad impacts in a number of areas covering economy, environment, social area and EU leadership.

Economic Impacts

  • FLEXRACK system is up to 40% cheaper to produce and build compared to standard 400 tons production plant. The return on investment is only three years.
  • Revenue of the 125 tons RAS-torbut production plant is expected to be 1.4 million EUR.
  • Add on 50 ha halophyte production could give (additional) revenue of 1 million EUR.
  • Add on bio-products (whole botanical extract, protein, and biogas) could give (additional) revenue of ½ million EUR.
  • The nutraceuticals market in Europe reached more than 1 billion USD by 2018.
  • Possible 2 ½ million EUR in net income from halophyte cosmetics at market CAGR of 7%.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

  • Reduction of the negative impacts of traditional aqua-culture waste on surroundings.
  • Low water consumption (Regular RAS system has water loss of 7-10% the FLEXRACK system can lower this to 2-4%).
  • Decentralized alorization of saline waste biomass 50% increased revenue for saline farmers.
  • Greatly improved circular economy and recycling of nutrients.
  • Reduction on emissions of greenhouse gases (by bioenergy production and utilisation) and increased CO2 sequestration by cultivating marginal lands. 
  • Net C-sequestration in marginal soils of 0.5-1.0 Gt/ yr at a cost of10-18 USD/tonC, based on a 100 yr scenario.

SOCIAL IMPACTS

  • Creation of potentially 20.000 direct and 100.000 indirect job opportunities for the development, engineering, fabrication, installation and operation of Aqua-culture, halophyte cultivation, and bioproducts processing plants with distribution throughout EU.
  • Production of bio-active compounds to increase human and animal health.
  • Reduction of the negative impacts of aqua-culture waste on human and animal health and the environment.
  • Enhancing the balance between urban and rural land by creating business opportunities for rual and remote areas.
  • Contributes to at least 8 of the 17 UN development goals e.g. (2) Zero hunger, (3) Good health and (6) Clean water.

 

EU LEADERSHIP

  • Enhancement of the competitiveness of participating European industries.
  • Leadership in sustainable aqua-culture.
  • Leadership in research and development in agriculture on marginal lands.
  • Leadership in urban resource management and valorization.
  • Global tech export and licensing opportunities.
  • Benefits associated to circular business models are substantial. Meyer (2011)[1] estimated that resource efficiency improvements across different value chain could provide raw material savings in the region of 17–24% and costs savings of around 630 million EUR in Europe.

[1] Meyer, B. (2011). http://ec.europa.eu/environment/enveco/studies_modelling/pdf/report macroeconomic.pdf.

                                       
                                                                                                                              

Acknowledgement

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 862834. Any results of this project reflects only this consortium’s view and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.