Since the early fifties intense eff

Since the early fifties intense efforts have been made to explore new alternate protein sources as food supplements, primarily in anticipation of a repeatedly predicted insufficient future protein supply. For these, i.e. yeasts, fungi, bacteria and micro-algae, the name Single Cell Protein (SCP) was coined to describe the protein production from biomass, originating from different microbial sources.

In the case of alga it has to be stressed that, due to technical and economical reasons, it is not the general intention to isolate and utilize the sole protein, but to propagate the whole algal biomass. Hence, the term SCP is not quite correct, because the micro-algal material is definitely more than just protein. It has an unusual breadth of nutritional quality when compared to conventional plants in our diet and consists, next to protein, of a broad spectrum of other nutritious compounds viz. peptides, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, pigments, minerals and other valuable trace elements. To date, world-wide various sophisticated technologies are employed for mass production and processing of photoautotrophic micro-algae, the annual world production of all species is estimated to about 10,000 t/y