13. Jul 2020
Nutrients in microalgae: an environmentally friendly alternative to fish
Here you find the doctoral student’s profile of Susann Schade. She published results of her doctoral studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg recently. InGrA portraits doctoral students, who published their results and share the research more widely with a press release.
- Susann Schade
- Research area: Environmental Studies, Human Nutrition
- Institute for Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences (link), MLU
Field(s) of expertise during doctoral studies:
- Life cycle assessment
- Techno-economic analysis
Curriculum Vitae
- Currently working in the field of Environmental Analyses
- Doctoral studies in the group “Human Nutrition” of Prof. Dr. Gabriele Stangl at MLU
- Master of Sciences in International Area Studies at Martin Luther University in 2017
Challenges, rewards and contribution
Q: What was your most important contribution to the publication?
A: One important aspect for me was to include additional microalgae cultivation scenarios, which focused on the modeling of carbon dioxide during the cultivation. Initially, carbon dioxide had been modeled as an avoided burden (waste CO2) in all scenarios. We then repeated the calculation of all scenarios with the full burden of carbon dioxide production, which added a completely new aspect to the publication.
Q: What was challenging and what was a rewarding moment during your work presented in the publication?
A: I found it challenging to establish the computational model for the input flows of the hypothetical photobioreactor in the first part of our study. It was a rewarding moment to obtain the complete inventory data and use it for the further calculations of the environmental impacts.
Significance of publication
Microalgae could provide an alternative source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids for humans while also being more environmentally friendly to produce than popular fish species. This is the result of a new study by scientists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The study was recently published in the “Journal of Applied Phycology” and offers an initial indication of the environmental effects of producing microalgae in Germany.
from press release no. 087/2020 of July 7, 2020
Related publication
Schade S., Stangl G.I., Meier T.
Distinct microalgae species for food-part 2: comparative life cycle assessment of microalgae and fish for eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and protein.
Journal of Applied Phycology (2020). doi: 10.1007/s10811-020-02181-6
About this profile
Doctoral students contribute significantly to publications highlighted by the MLU press office in many cases. These early stage researchers and their work in connection with the publication are in the focus of this profile.
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