The High-yield DHA Marine Microalgae Breeding and Clean Production project was awarded the Second Prize of Science and Technology Progress by the Shandong provincial government (China) recently. The project was developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences' Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), and implemented by Qingdao Langyatai (Group) Co., Ltd.  

This award has shown QIBEBT's excellent innovation capability of producing high value-added lipids products by microbial fermentation. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), as a n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, plays an important role in physiology regulatory of human body. DHA can also improve the survival rate of special aquaculture seeding and quality as a necessary nutrition in growing process. This project has successfully solved a series of problems in producing DHA by Aurantiochytrium, such as breeding strains, optimizing production process, increasing conversion rate, and reducing energy consumption and waste pollution.   

It is estimated that the market demand for n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids will be about 34 billion dollars all over the world in 2016. The demand for DHA in China has reached 5,500 tons in 2015. This awarded project will meet about 40 percent demands in domestic DHA market, and the shares in international market are also expected to increase in the near future. 

The success of the project will improve QIBEBT's R&D competition through industrial biotechnology.