Pincoya Bioprocess

Know whether an algae process is viable before you build it.

Pincoya Bioprocess is an independent consultancy for seaweed and microalgae producers, aquaculture operators and natural-ingredients companies. We bring process engineering, techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment (LCA) to the design stage, when changing course is still cheap.

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Illustrative mass balance of an algae process Loss Co-product Loss Loss Biomass Pretreatment Extraction Separation Purification Product
Illustrative mass balance: what each step keeps, and what it loses.

Where the value is

Seaweed is still sold mostly as a commodity. Chile, the world's largest harvester of wild seaweed, shows the pattern clearly: nearly 90% of its seaweed exports by volume leave as dried, unprocessed algae, while processed products (alginate, carrageenan, agar) make up a tenth of the volume but half of the value.

That gap, between the tonne sold and the product made, is where seaweed projects win or lose. Companies in Europe and the US already turn seaweed components into compostable packaging that replaces single-use plastic. Every route like that rises or falls on its process economics.

And the routes are multiplying: rules on single-use plastics, such as the EU's Directive 2019/904, and fish farms adding seaweed to their sites (IMTA) are opening new uses for the biomass. The first movers will need the numbers before they invest.

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Sources: FAO, Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular 1229 (2021) · Oyarzo-Miranda et al., Frontiers in Marine Science (2023) · UN Comtrade, Chile exports 2023

Services

Most bioprocess failures aren't technical surprises. They're economic ones that nobody modelled early enough. Our two diagnostics answer the economic question before you invest. Our two studies go further: designing the process, or running the full analysis.

Bioprocess Readiness Assessment

Is this algae process worth building, and what would make it pay?

For seaweed and microalgae producers, biorefineries and natural-ingredients companies with a process on paper, in the lab or at pilot scale.

  • Process review: the proposed route from biomass to product, step by step.
  • Mass balance: yields and losses at each step, and where material is wasted.
  • Techno-economic analysis: capital and operating costs, cost per kilogram of product, and the steps that decide whether it makes money.
  • Life-cycle screening: where the environmental impact sits, while the design can still change.
  • Recommendation: go, change or stop, and what to test next.
You receive
A written report with the full results of the mass balance, techno-economic analysis and life-cycle screening, the assumptions behind them, and a clear recommendation.
We need
A process description and whatever lab or pilot data you have.
Format
Fixed scope and fee, quoted after a free first call. About 6 weeks.

IMTA Feasibility & Permitting Readiness Assessment

Adding seaweed to a salmon site: is it worth doing, and how?

For salmon concession holders looking at the announced SUBPESCA change to Resolution 1089/2021, and other aquaculture operators considering integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA).

  • Species and site screening: which macroalgae suit your site and season, and fit around your production cycle.
  • Biomass and nutrient uptake: expected yield, and the nitrogen and phosphorus the crop can take up.
  • Siting and structures: where the lines go and how they work with your existing moorings.
  • Regulatory pathway: what the simplified route covers, what still needs filing, and its status on the day we start.
  • Offtake: who buys the harvested biomass, and whether a multi-product route adds value.
  • Economics: indicative capital and operating costs, cost per tonne and break-even.
You receive
A written assessment with the full results of our techno-economic analysis: the costs, the break-even, the assumptions behind each number and how much the result moves when they change. Then a clear recommendation. If the numbers don't work at your site, the report says so.
We need
Site location and conditions, and your production calendar.
Format
Fixed scope and fee, quoted after a free first call. About 4 weeks.

Process Design & Scale-Up

How do we take this from the bench to a process that runs at scale?

For seaweed and microalgae producers and companies recovering high-value compounds from biomass, with a process that works in the lab or at pilot scale and a plan to scale it.

  • Scope: upstream (cultivation, harvesting and pretreatment), downstream (extraction, separation and purification), or the whole process.
  • Route selection: the options for each step in scope, compared on yield, quality and cost.
  • Process flow and mass balance: each unit operation, its operating conditions, and the yields and losses between them.
  • Scale-up basis: what changes from bench to pilot to production, and which parameters must hold.
  • Risks and experiments: the scale-up risks, and the lab or pilot tests that reduce them, designed with Design of Experiments (DoE) where it pays.
  • Economics check: indicative cost per kilogram of product at the target scale.
You receive
A written process design: flow diagram, mass balance, operating conditions and scale-up plan, with the risks named and the experiments that reduce them.
We need
Your current lab or pilot method and data, and the target product specification.
Format
Fixed scope and fee, quoted after a free first call. Timeline agreed with the scope.

Techno-Economic Analysis & Life-Cycle Assessment

What will this process cost, and where does its environmental impact sit?

For companies at any stage, from lab concept to running plant, that need the numbers for an investment decision, a grant application or a choice between design options. Either study can run on its own, or both together on the same process data.

  • Scope: the product, the scale and the boundaries of the study, agreed up front.
  • Techno-economic analysis: capital and operating costs, cost per kilogram of product and break-even.
  • Life-cycle assessment: the material and energy inventory, climate and other impacts, and the steps that drive them.
  • Scenarios: alternative routes, scales or locations, compared on the same basis.
  • Sensitivity: which assumptions move the result most, and what data would firm them up.
You receive
A written report with the full results, the assumptions and data sources behind each number, and how much the results move when they change.
We need
A process description and whatever cost, energy and material data you have.
Format
Fixed scope and fee, quoted after a free first call. Timeline agreed with the scope.

How we work

Every engagement is a defined study with a clear question and a clear answer.

Fixed scope
Each study has a fixed scope, timeline and fee, agreed after a free first call and before any work starts.
Results, not just conclusions
You receive the full results behind every recommendation: the numbers, the assumptions and the sensitivities.
English or Spanish
Work and deliverables in either language, for clients in the UK, Europe and Latin America.

About

Pincoya Bioprocess is an independent consultancy for the seaweed and microalgae industry. We combine upstream and downstream process engineering (from biomass cultivation and pretreatment to the extraction, separation and purification of high-value products) with techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment.

That combination matters because algae processes usually succeed or fail on their economics. We work out mass balances, costs and environmental impact at the design stage, alongside the process itself, so the answer comes before the investment.

We're based in London and work in English or Spanish for clients in the UK, Europe and Latin America. The name comes from La Pincoya, the sea spirit of Chiloé's folklore who brings abundance to the coast.

Alex Olivares-Molina, PhD Founder

A bioprocess engineer trained at the Universidad de Concepción, with more than ten years in downstream processing and the recovery of high-value products from seaweed, microalgae and other biological sources.

  • PhD, University College London: a cascading multi-product biorefinery for the brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum, designed with green chemistry and early-stage economic and environmental metrics.
  • Postdoctoral research, UCL: a life-cycle assessment toolkit to guide decisions in an algal bioprocess (C-phycocyanin recovery).
  • Marine Biotechnology Engineering (specialisation in bioprocesses), Universidad de Concepción.
  • Product development: took a functional beverage from proof of concept to market.
  • GMP biomanufacturing: process development experience that keeps scale-up advice grounded in manufacturing practice.

Selected papers: Journal of Biotechnology, 2024 · Journal of Applied Phycology, 2016 · bioRxiv, 2021 · LinkedIn

Contact

If you're weighing up a new algae process or product, we'd be glad to talk it through. Tell us briefly what you're working on and where you are with it.

Email us

contact@pincoyabioprocess.com