Recovered aquaculture feed (FS009)

Aim:

This highly innovative technical feasibility project aims to improve the sustainability of production across the fisheries and aquaculture supply chain and to mitigate the environmental impacts of operations by re-directing protein rich by-product from fisheries processing into the aquaculture feed supply chain.

Funding Amount:

£50,000

Duration of Project:

3 Months

Project Outcome:

This project has been awarded funding to continue into the R&D phase as RD052.

The separation of oils and protein in protein-rich effluent streams from fisheries processing using crustacean shell-derived solid-liquid separation aids; chitosan formulations, have been shown to effectively reduce BOD in plant trials. Nutritional analysis of chitosan-recovered proteins showed them to be nutritionally rich. However, as the effluent included other food ingredients (e.g. flavours), they could not be used directly as an aquaculture feed.

The chitosan-separated solids could be prepared in dried pellet form suitable for use as a nutritionally-rich source of feed for polychaete worm (ragworm) cultivation and this will be investigated in a future study. 

Chitosan is produced from de-fleshed crustacean shell. De-fleshing of shellfish produces a flesh by-product stream, which can be as expensive as the shell to dispose of. Chitosan formulations were used to recover the separated flesh, which itself was found to be nutritionally rich and a potential new source of aquaculture feed.

Pennog Limited aims to develop both commercial opportunities in the future; chitosan-recovered fish processing effluent as a feed for polychaete worm (ragworm) cultivation and chitosan-recovered shellfish protein as a sustainable aquaculture feed.

STATUS: Completed

Project Lead

Pennog Ltd