13 August 2025

^{The Avontuur is providing sustainable transport for Aquamondis's spirulina algae production in the Cape Verde Islands (photo by Verena Brüning, courtesy of Aquamondis GmbH)}

 

In a world hungry for vibrant food colours, blue remains among the rarest hues nature offers. That scarcity has long forced the food industry to resort to synthetic alternatives—like Brilliant Blue FCF (E133) and Indigo Carmine (E132)—raising consumer and regulatory concerns about health impacts. Now, a German firm is pioneering a sustainable, natural solution: Aquamondis GmbH is establishing a fully digitalised freshwater spirulina production facility in the Cape Verde Islands to extract phycocyanin, a vivid blue pigment, for the food industry. An audacious detail of the project is its transportation model: using the sail cargo ship Avontuur to deliver nutrients like trace elements and sodium hydrogen carbonate— at zero CO₂ emissions.

In an exclusive interview with Movetheneedle.news, Jan Dohrmann, founder and managing director, elaborates on the project’s novelty, technical finesse, and ecological impact.

The Blue Conundrum: Why Nature Struggles with Blue Food Colours

Blue pigments are scarce in nature. Unlike reds, greens, or yellows—offered by anthocyanins, carotenoids, and chlorophylls—blue remains uncommon due to complex chemistry and limited evolutionary advantage. Only a handful of plant-based blues exist, and structural colours in animals add to the challenge because they aren’t pigments at all.

Enter phycocyanin, a natural, water-soluble, protein-based blue pigment extracted from spirulina—a cyanobacteria also known as blue-green algae. Phycocyanin provides a pure, striking hue, widely considered safer and more eco-friendly than synthetic options. It is already approved in the EU and US for use in food and beverages.

Aquamondis in Cape Verde: A Digital Green Bio-Economy

According to Aquamondis’ own site, the Cape Verde Islands are exceptionally well-suited for spirulina cultivation. Their stable, year-round climate and abundant clean seawater—desalinated to freshwater for the process—enable harvests that are up to four times greater than what would be possible in Germany.

Dohrmann underscores this advantage and more:

“First of all, we have absolute experts in our team… But what makes our approach unique… is the location: Cape Verde offers a consistently stable climate, meaning we can harvest around four times as much as we could in Germany… Both the yield and the steady quality will set us apart from the competition.”

The facility is fully digitalised, with AI-generated algorithms governing cultivation, density, pH, and most critically, the optimal harvest time to maximise pigment yield.

Phycocyanin vs. Synthetic Blues: Health, Environment and Performance

When asked what makes phycocyanin ideal for food colouring, Dohrmann shares this summary:

“Phycocyanin, extracted from Spirulina algae, is a vibrant, water-soluble blue pigment valued for being entirely natural, non-toxic, and derived from a renewable source. Unlike synthetic blues such as Brilliant Blue FCF (E133), Indigo Carmine (E132) and Patent Blue V (E131), it is free from petroleum-based components and contains no known allergenic or carcinogenic compounds.”

He also highlights its environmental credentials:

"Spirulina cultivation has a low land and freshwater footprint and does not require pesticides, making it more sustainable than many crop-derived pigments of land-based plants."

Indeed, spirulina farms need little arable land and are water-efficient compared to many traditional colour sources.

But natural blues come with technical challenges. Phycocyanin is sensitive to heat and acidity—less stable than synthetic alternatives—limiting its use in certain processed foods. Nonetheless, its clean label appeal and antioxidant properties make it particularly attractive for clean-label, health-conscious food applications.

Economic, Social and Ecological Synergy in Cape Verde

Beyond product innovation, the project delivers social benefits:

“Aquamondis combines climate protection, health innovation and economic scalability… the construction of the plant promotes economic growth in Cape Verde and creates new jobs… the government tries to diversify its economy and welcomes ecologically aware entrepreneurs like us with open arms,” says Dohrmann.

Cape Verde’s overreliance on tourism was brutally exposed during COVID-19. Aquamondis offers a stabilising non-tourism sector—green, local, and sustainable—which the government eagerly supports.

Circular Transportation: Sailing to Sustainability

An audacious detail of the project is its transportation model: using the sail cargo ship Avontuur to deliver nutrients like trace elements and sodium hydrogen carbonate—zero CO₂ emissions. Dohrmann explains:

“The Avontuur’s mission statement is “Mission: Zero” so there are no CO₂ emissions. And likewise, Aquamondis strives to keep its carbon footprint as low as possible. This applies to the operation of the freshwater facility for spirulina production: we want to make it as sustainable as possible. In addition to closed nutrient cycles, we rely on energy self-sufficiency thanks to solar and wind power, and the seawater desalination plant will also be powered by solar energy. Everything is designed for maximum environmental friendliness and local independence. But this also applies to transport, of course, so that we transport trace elements and sodium hydrogen carbonate to Cape Verde in a climate-neutral manner, on board the Avontuur, powered only by the wind.”

This transport model even helps the vessel: without cargo, the ship would sail too lightly and risk capsizing. With Aquamondis' cargo, it avoids that fate—a miniature circular economy.

Dohrmann doesn’t seem worried about delays: “That’s the beauty of sailing: Your pacemaker is the wind. Skipper Cornelius Bockermann has lots of experience. He will sail as fast as the wind allows. But of course, we established a proper buffer. One cargo load of those trace elements and sodium hydrogen carbonate will last for 18 months while the Avontuur is to arrive every twelve months which means we have a window of six months. Also, there is practically no due date on those micronutrients, they do not go bad.”

Phase 1 Production Ambitions & Expansion Plans

The facility will be fully operational approximately eight months after construction begin, according to Dohrmann. The first harvest will take place approximately 20 days after the start of operations. Subsequently, a continuous harvest cycle (e.g. daily or every 2-4 days) will be possible.

“In the final stage of construction, we plan to have a cultivation area of 10,800 square metres and expect a spirulina harvest of around 60 tonnes per year when fully operational, with a phycocyanin yield of around 9 tonnes (both based on dry matter). By way of comparison, total European spirulina production is expected to be around 142 tonnes in 2025.”

Their expansion vision is bold, he adds:

“Adjacent to the site, there is land available that would allow the farm to be expanded from 2 to 8 hectares and the cultivation area to up to 64,800 square metres. We have an option on this land and will exercise it if all goes according to plan,” says Dohrmann. “Let’s crunch some numbers here and put them in perspective: if we would indeed cultivate those 64,800 square metres, Aquamondis could harvest around 360 tonnes of spirulina. This would be more than double the amount the entire EU harvests in a year. However, labour costs are much lower in Cape Verde compared to the EU, the same goes for the manufacturing costs as a whole. This alone could make us a significant player.”

Blue Is Popular—But Blue Food? Not So Much

Dohrmann recalls starting Aquamondis out of this contradiction:

“While blue is highly sought after in the food industry (blue is the most popular colour in the world overall), there are few blue foods. ‘Phycocyanin occurs naturally, while the non-natural colourings that are predominantly used today are associated with conditions such as ADHD or even dementia. The world needs safe food – and fair food too.’”

His words capture the emotional as well as technical spark behind the project—a colour we love but rarely get naturally, now within reach again.

Final Thoughts: A Blue Revolution on the Horizon?

Aquamondis’ Cape Verde spirulina project is remarkable in multiple dimensions: visionary, digital, ecological, economic, and human-centric. By leveraging digital automation, renewable energy, circular transport and local ecological benefits, it aims to produce one of the industry’s most elusive natural colours at scale.

If successful, the firm not only redesigns the supply chain for natural blue—but also demonstrates how intelligent, sustainable biotech can transform economies and diets. In an era where consumers demand both colour and conscience, Aquamondis may well be painting the future—in blue.