News
We are thrilled to announce our presence as a finalist at the NutraIngredients Awards ceremony in Geneva this year!
AstaReal® Astaxanthin is selected as a finalist “Ingredient of the Year in Sports Nutrition” category. The NI Awards committee recognizes the most potent ingredients in the market in various categories based on the ingredients’ characteristic profile, the extent and quality of science about and the clinical research on ingredients’ efficacy and safety, and their history of presence and success in the market.
AstaReal owes its success to the 35-year presence of its sustainable, evidence-based health-promoting, plant-based ingredient in the market.
Our products address the evolving needs of consumers by offering a trusted, premium nutritional solution that is backed by solid science and clinical research and is suitable for everyone.
We are fully dedicated in being responsive to the demands of consumers, ensuring that our products are not only effective but also align with their values and expectations.
We would like to thank NutraIngredients Awards committee for the opportunity to join them in celebrating their 10th anniversary this year.
Keep your fingers crossed for us at the NI Awards presentations on Wednesday, May 15!
We are thrilled to be the first astaxanthin brand to collaborate with first responders, elucidating the benefits of astaxanthin for their performance and health.
Press release 2023
Warm welcome to our new UK partner
As of April 1, we are working with a new partner in the UK. Together with i-ingredients Ltd., AstaReal Sweden can now better support UK customers with the supply and distribution of our unique natural antioxidant.
We are extremely proud of this new partnership, which will help satisfy growing market demand for natural astaxanthin. The antioxidant is gaining in popularity, as an increasing number of scientific studies have confirmed its impressive health benefits. Furthermore, the antioxidant is obtained from regrowing microalgae, which makes it a particularly environmentally sustainable ingredient.
Inderpal Saraw, Managing Director at i-ingredients says: “Our company has carved itself as being the speciality ingredient supply for the nutraceutical and cosmeceutical industry for the past 11 years. The intention was simple, let’s make all of our clients’ products unique and clinically proven from the beginning. Our exclusivity has led to us representing clinically proven active ingredient manufactures from around the world into this very creative and unique UK market. This is headed with a team with over 50 years of experience within the entire food supplement and sports nutrition industry, working with the largest brands, CMO’s and special expertise given to start-up companies in regards to being ‘industry ready’. We are very proud and honoured to have AstaReal® Astaxanthin join our stable of clinically proven actives.”
Press release 2022
A new collaboration!
Welcome to our new distributor specialising in the pet food industry, IQI Trusted Pet Food Ingredients. With extensive experience in the pet food industry and a portfolio of healthy, premium, and sustainable ingredients, we are grateful to partner for the European market.
The power of natural AstaReal astaxanthin will be available to be discovered for the Pet Food Industry with this new partnership.
AstaReal kickstarts heat recovery project
Nacka (Sweden), October 2022 – AstaReal AB, the global pioneer in natural astaxanthin production and related research, has elevated its sustainability efforts to the next level. Thanks to a cooperation with the energy utility Vattenfall, the company is now using excess heat from its facility in Gustavsberg, Sweden, to feed the local district heating network. As a result, the production of microalgae-derived astaxanthin, known for its scientifically proven health benefits, is now supplying heat for up to 2,500 households.
A new collaboration!
KOLINPHARMA® S.p.A. (“Kolinpharma” or the “Company”), an Innovative SME operating in the nutraceutical sector, listed on the Euronext Growth Milan market of the Italian Stock Exchange, has concluded an important distribution agreement with the Swedish company AstaReal® AB which will strategically allow entry and sales development in the Asian market.
Vattenfall and AstaReal sign comprehensive energy contract
Peter Worsöe, CEO AstaReal, Lovisa Fricot Norén CEO Vattenfall
Photo: Peter Knutson
Excess heat from algae cultivation will heat households in Gustavsberg
Vattenfall and AstaReal are expanding their cooperation through a comprehensive energy contract to recover excess heat from AstaReal’s algae cultivation. The idea is to be able to meet the heating requirements corresponding to 2,500 new apartments in Gustavsberg near Stockholm through the new partnership.
“AstaReal’s production process is energy-intensive and requires both electricity and cooling. The excess heat that arises will be available for use for heating homes and premises. From spring 2022, Gustavsberg residents will have more than 20 percent of their heating requirements covered through this solution,” says Lovisa Fricot Norén, Head of Vattenfall Heating in Sweden.
As part of the new energy contract, a customised solution with reversible heat pumps will be installed at AstaReal’s plant in Gustavsberg. This solution makes it possible to efficiently recover excess heat from the production process, which means that more than fifteen million kilowatt hours of heat per year will be recovered and reused in the local district heating network in Gustavsberg.
“AstaReal, in Gustavsberg, is the first company in the world to produce the substance astaxanthin successfully on a large scale. It’s used as a nutritional supplement for both humans and animals in Sweden and globally. Production takes place through the cultivation of algae in unique bioreactors. The process is energy-intensive and therefore we’re committed to the most efficient use of electricity and cooling. Our extended partnership with Vattenfall fully aligns with our ambition to grow the algae as sustainably as possible and to be a positive force in society with a circular business,” says Peter Worsöe, CEO of AstaReal.
In addition to the heating contract, Vattenfall will also continue to own and manage high-voltage installations such as transformers and switchgears, as well as supplying climate-neutral electricity. The heat pump plant is being upgraded with a new and much more climate-friendly refrigerant (R1234zee) than in previous solutions.
“We look forward to expanding our partnership with AstaReal, who will be a pioneer with this new technical solution that allows for connection to the district heating network. We’re proud to be able to support AstaReal’s ambition to find more fossil-free solutions, while at the same time they’re able to transfer all responsibility for the plant’s heat recovery through us owning, managing and ensuring its function,” says Torbjörn Johansson, Head of Vattenfall Network Solutions in Sweden.
We have completed our first climate report
We have set a goal of climate-neutral company by 2026 and the first step on the journey has been to map our climate footprint. The data in the report refers to our climate impact during the financial year 2019/2020. The calculation is performed according to the standard GHG (Green House Gas) Protocol – Corporate standard and included categories are presented in the report.
The aim is to year by year expand the calculation so that at least 95% of emissions include when the statement about climate neutrality is done. This is a requirement in, among other things, PAS 2060, which is a standard for climate neutrality.
Purchasing is our largest emission category, followed by purchased energy, refilling of refrigerants and business trips.
To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, absolute emissions must be halved by 2030. Based on our emissions in 2019/20 we need to reduce them with approximately 7% per year to reach that goal.
With this knowledge we have been able to focus our action on relevant areas. We will, for example, reduce our use of cleaning chemicals by 50%, replace old equipment and therefore reduce refrigerant leakage, implement our travel policy and through awareness make good decisions.
This year we will include our sub-contractors and the transports between them in the calculations.