Gunnar Mühlstädt
CTO and Head of Sales
ALGENWERK · Dresden-Hellerau
The industrial platform for microalgae.
Fresh spirulina from Dresden – cultivated in closed photobioreactors for reproducible quality. We support you all the way from the plant to the recipe for your product.
Award-winningWinner INTERNORGA Future Award 2026 →Food & Beverages categoryOur approach
Our planet is blue.
A large part of its food chain begins in water. Microalgae turn CO₂, light, water and nutrients into valuable biomass – and have done so for billions of years.
ALGENWERK brings this principle into the city and turns it into food that offers sustainable, nutritionally relevant added value. We call this Blue Food: food from aquatic production – produced regionally, grown under controlled conditions and delivered through the cold chain.
Fresh, not dried.
Whole biomass as a paste – no drying, no powdery taste.
High purity instead of open ponds.
Closed, highly automated photobioreactors.
A platform, not a single plant.
Developed and scaled at the hub, replicated in further plants.
Hub ALGENWERK Dresden
Developed and scaled on an industrial scale.
At Hub Dresden-Hellerau, cultivation, harvesting, filling and application development all take place under one roof. This is where we create the processes that further ALGENWERK plants adopt.
Explore Hub Dresden →- High purity
- Closed, highly automated photobioreactors from our own plant engineering instead of open ponds; every batch documented.
- 5 weeks
- Minimum shelf life, chilled in the unopened container; frozen for up to 12 months.
- <10² CFU/g
- Total aerobic count; spore-forming bacteria not detectable.
- ISO 9001
- Certified quality management and HACCP, from culture to filling.
Fresh spirulina per year – in Dresden today, three further sites in the pipeline
- In operation≈ 20 tDresden
- In planning+50 tBrandenburg
- In planning+33 tNorth Rhine-Westphalia
- In planning+33 tLower Saxony
Platform
We close the loop.
ALGENWERK develops, produces and scales microalgae: technology, production, quality and application from a single source. Every new plant adopts the Dresden process.
- 01TechnologyPACT photobioreactors, developed in-house.
- 02Plant engineeringOur own plant engineering with the know-how of the Pürstinger Group.
- 03CultivationClosed, individually illuminated, run year-round.
- 04Process & dataAutomated end to end, every batch documented in algae.cloud
- 05Quality & analyticsISO 9001, HACCP, <10² CFU/g.
- 06ApplicationRecipe lab, pilot plant, chefs & professionals from our network.
- 07MarketProven on the market, from professional kitchens to end products.
- 08ReplicationFurther plants adopt the Dresden process.
- The loop closes: new plants and new microalgae start again at 01.
Fresh spirulina
Fresh spirulina. On an industrial scale.
With natural vitamin B12 for your daily requirement. Year-round to a reproducible specification – thanks to a certified QM system and fully automated processes.
- 01Undried and pureWhole biomass, no additives. The ingredients list reads: spirulina.
- 02Mild in tasteMild and fresh, almost neutral – much milder than dried biomass.
- 03Natural vitamin B12For your daily requirement – analysed separately from pseudo-B12.
- 04Colour and functionNatural colour from the whole ingredient; the intact cell structure can support creaminess, emulsions and foam.
One ingredient. Three ways.
Colour and function cold. Aroma hot.
Cold, fresh spirulina stays what it is. Frozen, it keeps its colour and lasts longer in storage. Hot, it turns from a colouring ingredient into a flavouring one: roasted aroma instead of turquoise.
TurquoiseLight, high-fat, cold matrix: Ice cream, ganache, oat or rice base
Green-blueAqueous, neutral matrix: Drinks, dips, dressings
Green to oliveAcidic, baked or cooked: Bread, pasta, fruit shots
Olive to brownFried, roasted, extruded: Roasted aromas instead of colour
Applications
Eight categories. One ingredient.
Where fresh spirulina is used today and what it can contribute to your product.
- Ice cream & frozen desserts
- Bakery & pasta
- Sauces, dips & spreads
- Beverages
- Desserts & confectionery
- Dairy & dairy alternatives
- Plant-based & savoury
- Catering & hospitality
Resources
Resources you can measure.
Light, water, nutrients and a carbon source: that is what the culture needs. That is why we don’t say ‘climate-neutral’ – we show figures.
Life cycle assessment and system boundaries →- ≈ 52 l
- Water per kg of paste across the entire upstream chain*
- 0.13 m²
- Land per kg of paste, only indirectly in the upstream chain – no farmland for the culture*
- 365 days
- Production per year, independent of weather and season
* Life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040/44 (van Daal, Wageningen University & Research with UNU-FLORES Dresden, 2024), cradle-to-gate for the Dresden process, ReCiPe 2016: water consumption potential 0.52 m³ and land use 1.28 m²·a per kg of spirulina dry matter, converted to paste with 10% dry matter.
Award-winning
Winner INTERNORGA Future Award 2026
Category: Food & Beverages – for fresh spirulina as an ingredient from the closed photobioreactor. The laudatory speech was given by food trend researcher Hanni Rützler.
From the laudation by Hanni Rützler
Hanni Rützler praised the technofunctional properties of the fresh microalga – natural emulsification, stabilisation and improved texture without additives, ideal for clean-label solutions. In particular, she highlighted the product’s fine texture and mild taste, which does not affect the flavour of other ingredients – from smoothies to noodles, and in sweet applications too.
Laudatory speech in full (PDF, in German) →Original: INTERNORGA
Chefs & professionals on fresh spirulina
„Algae on a whole new level – without that harbour taste and with a fantastic colour!“
Dish: Cream soup with fresh spirulina and prawn
„A raw material with enormous potential.“
Dish: Ice cream creation with fresh spirulina
Also from our network: Philipp Haufe, Landhotel Zum Erbgericht · Peter Scharff, Top chef · Detlef Hensel and Gerhard Volk, Partner in hospitality.
Customer products: Spirulina°Ice by BlaBlu, ice cream at dito Café & Eis Hamburg.BlaBlu product photos: © HC-LIM GmbH, Wendenstr. 130, 20537 Hamburg, Germany.
Samples & specification
Request samples and specification.
Tell us what your product needs to do – we will send you samples with specification and support your development from Hub Dresden.
What you get from us
- Samples with specification and product data sheet
- Recipe suggestions from the ALGENWERK recipe lab
- Kitchen induction or a pilot-plant session at Hub Dresden
- Cost and nutrition calculation for your end product
- Development support – with chefs & professionals from our network, if you wish
