Seawin Biotech aspiring to become global seaweed fertilizer market leader

 

Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co. Ltd. (Seawin Biotech in short) is one of the pioneers in marine biological resources and product development in China.

 

Seawin Biotech's predecessor is OUC Biological Engineering Development Co. Ltd., which was established on the campus of Ocean University of China in Qingdao, China in 2000.

 

Over the past two decades, Seawin Biotech has been promoting the development of enterprise on the strength of science, technology and talent, based on the unique marine resources found in Qingdao. With the implementation of the national blue economic strategy and after 17 years of technology accumulation and market development, Seawin Biotech has completed the industrial layout in the "research, development, production and sales of new seaweed fertilizers, development and production of marine biological products, and marine environmental services," and formed an industrial chain focusing on the large-scale utilization of marine biological resources.

 

An enterprise group company has been established with the main business in large-scale resource development of green algae. This group company has seven subsidiaries, including Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co. Ltd. which is supported by Winsea Biotech, Qingdao Ocean Shipping, Sea-winner International Trade and other business groups, and has led the development of China's seaweed fertilizer industry.

 

Seawin Biotech has two production bases in the Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Industrial Park and in Weihai Jinhai Bay Industrial Park, spread over a total area of 2,80,000 square meters. The "Harmless Treatment and Resource Utilization Base of Enteromorphaprolifera" in Qingdao is the only specialized base for large-scale processing and utilization of green algae in China. The production base in Weihai, by relying on its special geographical location and the advantages of rich marine biological resources, has initially become the industrial demonstration base for large-scale development and utilization of marine biological resources on the Shandong Peninsula.

 

 

 

 

 

Alga polysaccharide is the main seaweed extract, which can act on crops, facilitate the fertilizer products to exert higher fertilizer utilization rates, improve the care of crop roots, improve the crop stress resistance, ameliorate the soil and so on. The traditional sources of seaweed polysaccharide mainly include ascophyllumnodosum, kelp, sargassum and other brown algae.

 

Since about two years ago, Seawin Biotech began attaching great importance to Enteromorphaprolifera, a key seaweed resource, which can be widely found in coastal areas. Tests show that fucoidan and green alga polysaccharide have different positive functions in enhancing crop resistance and promoting growth, and their synergistic effect can greatly enhance the efficacy of seaweed fertilizer. Based on this theory, Seawin Biotech’s research and development entered a new "double algae" era.

 

Since 2007, the Qingdao coastal sea has experienced an outbreak of large-scale green tide caused by Enteromorphaprolifera for 10 consecutive years, which has seriously affected the coastal environment of Qingdao. After the 2008 Olympics’ sailing competition, Seawin Biotech initiated a mission for the harmless treatment and resource utilization of Enteromorphaprolifera. 

 

In 2009, an Enteromorphaprolifera drying processing plant of Seawin Biotech was completed and put into operation. In 2014, Seawin Biotech finished the construction of Seawinner 1, an environmental engineering ship with the displacement of 3,700 tons and offshore integrated processing platform used for catching and the disposal of Enteromorphaprolifera.

 

With the support of the Qingdao Municipal Government and the introduction of the "1+X" mode, seaweed catching, dehydration, transport and a comprehensive utilization of resources was realized. 

 

In 2016, Seawinner 2, the second mobile offshore processing platform for Enteromorphaprolifera with the displacement of 5,000 tons, was launched and a new "2+X" mode was introduced, which further enhanced the Enteromorphaprolifera catching and processing capability of Seawin Biotech.

 

  

 

On July 7, 2014, the Qingdao high-value utilization base for  Enteromorphaprolifera Resources, constructed with an  investment of RMB 100 million made by Seawin Biotech and with a single building area of 36,000 square meters, was put into use. The base, located in the Jiaozhou Bay Industrial Park of Seawin Biotech, is equipped with highly automated and specialized alga polysaccharide preparation workshop. It is the only specialized workshop for green alga polysaccharide extraction, purification, preparation and the largest glycopeptide product plant in the world. The base adds 100,000 tons of fresh Enteromorphaprolifera processing capacity to the company every year.

 

Besides being a marine biopeptide workshop of Seawin Biotech with the single building area of 28,000 square meters located in the Weihai Jinhai Bay Industrial Park, it is also the leading marine biological peptide preparation workshop in China.

 

 

 

Both the bases are equipped with international state-of-the-art automated production lines that while improving production capacity and achieving automation control, can also produce high-purity alga polysaccharide, high-purity protein peptide, alga feed additives, marine AMPs, novel seaweed organic water soluble fertilizer, marine protein peptide water soluble fertilizer and a corresponding series of products.

 

 

Seawin Biotech upholds the development tenet of science and technology leading to the future. By relying on the marine biotechnology advantages of Ocean University of China, Seawin Biotech cooperates with the Institute of Process Engineering of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the State Oceanic Administration, the State Oceanic Administration First Ocean Research Institute and other scientific research organizations for collaborative innovation, and jointly established the "National Green Alga Research and Application Technology Center" and other technical platforms, providing strong technical support for the development of marine biological products and research and development of series products.

 

The platform also attracts a number of well-known domestic and foreign marine biochemical experts to participate in product innovation. A number of domestic academician experts and scholars have provided scientific research support to Seawin Biotech, among others, academician Guan Huashi from Ocean University of China and his team completed the large-scale preparation and high-value utilization of functional polysaccharides, oligosaccharides and other functional components jointly with the company; researcher Du Yuguang from the Institute of Process Engineering of Chinese Academy of Sciences helped the company to achieve high-value development and utilization of green algae; academician Yin Yulong from Hunan Normal University assisted the company in the study of the function mechanisms of marine biological products in animal breeding, which promoted the application of the company's polysaccharide, protein and other raw materials in the area of feed field.

 

Seawin Biotech's research team is growing and keeps attracting marine biotechnology talent. At present, the technical center of Seawin Biotech has a research and development team of 63 professionals, including two doctors, and more than 80 percent of them have a master's degree or higher.

 

Based on the above hard and soft advantages, Seawin Biotech continues to increase inputs in research and development, and has received nearly 100 patents, including four well-known technologies, namely the Fresh Storing Technology of Alga, the Double Alga Synergy Enzymolysis Extraction Technology, the Accurate Positioning Technology of Alga Polysaccharide Molecular, and the Chelating Technology of Green Alga Polysaccharide with Medium and Trace Elements, which will effectively protect and improve the soil and other ecological environment, enhance the safety of food and contribute to the development of green agriculture.