What Ulva ohnoi is and why industry wants it

A green macroalga from tidal waters

The genus Ulva covers the green macroalgae commonly known as sea lettuce. Within that genus, Ulva ohnoi is one of the species with the greatest industrial interest, because of how fast it grows and how well it adapts to controlled tidal environments.

That combination matters more than it sounds. Biomass that grows quickly and predictably lets you plan campaigns, and a plannable campaign is what makes a raw material buyable: an industrial customer is not buying a single analysis, they are buying the certainty that next year's batch will resemble this year's.

What it brings to a formulation

Industrial interest in Ulva concentrates on four fractions. They do not all carry the same weight in every sector, and the specific weight depends on the season and the batch.

• Ulvan and sulphated polysaccharides: compounds characteristic of green algae, studied for their activity in plant defence and in functional formulation.
• Plant protein and amino acids: a marine protein fraction of interest in human and animal nutrition.
• Minerals and trace elements: a marine mineral profile usable in nutrition, plant nutrition and personal care.
• Soluble and insoluble fibre: relevant in food and texture development.

Composition varies with the season and with the batch. Exact figures are issued in the technical documentation attached to each supply, not in a generic catalogue table.

The formats it is supplied in

Ecoalga works with three formats depending on the customer's process: fresh algae, dried algae and liquid extract. The choice is not cosmetic; it conditions logistics, shelf life and the price per kilo of active material.

• Fresh: 20 kg field crates, dispatched on the day of harvest, for processes that start from wet biomass.
• Dried: whole, cut or milled to an agreed particle size, stable at ambient temperature.
• Liquid extract: cold extraction, for formulators and for the finished agricultural product.

What a buyer checks before ordering

The questions that come back most often are always the same four: which species it is exactly, where it was grown, what the batch analysis says, and whether the volume can be sustained across a season. Those are the ones we answer in writing before quoting.

The species matters because an Ulva extract is not interchangeable with an Ascophyllum one. The origin matters because cultivated algae and beach-cast algae are not the same product. And the batch matters because it is the only document that ties a delivery to a specific day in the marsh.