Elena Martínez (SOS Biotech): sargassum as a raw material for creating commercial products

Mari Navas

Madrid, July 28 (EFE).- Turning an environmental problem into a solution is the aim of SOS Biotech, a Dominican Republic biotechnology company co-founded by Spaniard Elena Martínez, which transforms sargassum—an algae that is being relentlessly fought against in the Caribbean—into commercial products that are now available in the country.

It's one of the most repeated images on the Caribbean coasts in recent years: miles and miles of beaches covered in sargassum, a macroalgae that causes environmental and health damage to communities, according to Elena Martínez, co-founder and technology director of SOS Biotech, who spoke to EFEverde.

The Dominican Republic's relentless struggle to clear its famous beaches of sargassum

A Spanish oceanographer, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation has selected the Foundation to participate in the Re.Generation Future Leaders Program, which supports young people working in community activism, ocean protection, and sustainable entrepreneurship.

In Martínez's case, he is part of the SOS conglomerate, which is dedicated to "both collecting and processing sargassum" to create various commercial products that help replace synthetic compounds and petroleum derivatives on the market.

Three products on the market

SOS Biotech has three agricultural products already on sale in the Dominican Republic—the Marine Symbiotic biostimulant, Marine Blossom extract, and Marine Soil substrate—and has just certified another for the cosmetics sector, which it hopes to launch soon. It also continues its research in areas such as biomaterials.

"In general, what we do is basically try to extract all the possible bioactive compounds from sargassum," explains Martínez, with the goal of creating "completely organic" products through "a closed process," so that no waste is generated from the algae.

Although they are currently only sold in the Dominican Republic, they also have market trials in Colombia, Spain, and the United States, where they have already received accreditation from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to begin marketing.

Collection in four countries around the world

For the sargassum to reach their Santo Domingo biorefinery and become a finished product, they first had to collect it, which they currently do through SOS Carbon in four countries: the Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

This process is carried out through a system called a coastal harvesting module, which "is basically a structure mounted on artisanal fishing boats" and used in the water to ensure the raw material is as fresh as possible and also to minimize erosion in local ecosystems.

"A single system can collect 10 tons per hour, about 70 tons per day. In fact, to date we have collected more than 16,000 tons of seaweed across the four countries where we collaborate. And we have trained more than 130 fishermen from local communities to carry out these harvests," says Elena Martínez.

Sargassum as a resource

The young Spanish woman, who joined the project after her partner contacted her on LinkedIn, saw from the outset "a great opportunity" both to take advantage of the proliferation of this algae and to diversify the industry in the region.

"I saw it as a great opportunity to contribute, to diversify the industry in the region, and also as a message that nature is sending us: you have a raw material here. You choose: either you see it as waste or as raw material," he notes.

He also asserts that, beyond being a problem, sargassum "is scientifically an incredible event," as it represents the largest proliferation of macroalgae ever recorded in the history of the planet. The current climate has created the perfect conditions for their invasive growth, creating a crisis, "but at the same time, it's a great opportunity."

"We must collect it, we must prevent it from accumulating because of the environmental damage, but also because of the health risks it poses to the communities living in those regions, since when sargassum decomposes it releases gases like methane that are toxic," the young woman says.

"But above all," Martínez continues, "because in the end, it's a raw material with which we, for example, are already creating commercial products from which farmers are already benefiting, and which can even help deal with pollution in different industries."

Scaling the business

Faced with a sargassum crisis that is escalating "very rapidly," the company is seeking external financing with the goal of scaling its business model to other parts of the world, including Spain, where they are seeking to establish an operations division.

"I'm confident that we can begin certification by the end of the year and that the agricultural products will be here next year," she says, before emphasizing that they will first have to "deal with legal issues" and the difficulty of obtaining licenses to operate with a raw material as new as sargassum.

Regarding harvesting, Martínez also points out that they would like to continue expanding into the affected area of the Caribbean in North and South America.

All of this is aimed at using sargassum "to minimize the carbon footprint of industries and all possible synthetic products."