ERA-NET: Synergy of blue-green sectors for resilient biomass prod.-processing to develop sust. feed ingredients for European aquaculture

Aquaculture is the fastest growing production of animal protein in the world and is considered as one of the most resource-efficient ways to produce protein. The production requires less feed, water, land and has a significantly lower carbon footprint than land-based livestock production. Aquacultural sector also has a high potential for sustainable growth and creating new jobs especially in rural areas. However, one of the challenges for the growth, is the need for nutritious and sustainable aquaculture feed resources. BlueGreenFeed focus on producing new feed ingredients, that can to some extent replace soy proteins. The project aims to increase and optimise resource utilization in bio-based industries and ensure a sustainable blue economy growth. BlueGreenFeed explore ways to pre-treat and process feathers and grass pulp to increase their digestibility and bio-availability for use in feed for low tropic animals such as insects (house crickets and meal worms) and aquatic invertebrates (gammarid shrimps and polychaete worms). WP1 works with technologies to increase digestibility of protein rich feathers by a combination of heat and hydrochloric acid treatment. The grass pulp consists mainly of carbohydrate rich fibers and after treatment with a combination of sodium hydroxide and heat, a great proportion of the carbohydrates are liberated and should be easier to digestible. The treated feathers and grass pulp are mixed, neutralized and will be fed to the low tropic animals, as a protein and carbohydrate rich source. Several screening trials in WP 2 assess how polychaetes, gammarid shrimps and mealworms accept grass and feathers and if they could utilize them for growth. One of the challenges so far has been the physical properties of the raw materials and how they behave in cultivation tanks, the focus now lies on developing procedures which ensures higher availability of feed for the animals during cultivation. Both feathers and grass physical properties pose challenges as feed materials for mealworms, with milled feathers proving difficult to handle in traditional farming containers. Grass fractions, while having a slightly better texture, exhibit low protein content, leading to slow mealworm growth. To address these issues, new feeding technologies involve stabilizing feathers and grass fractions in different matrix will be developed and tested. Several environmental impacts evaluations of land and ocean-based aquaculture in Iceland, with special focus on footprint of different fish feed ingredients in fish feed has been performed. The information from these studies will be used as benchmark for the LCA conducted within the BlueGreenFeed, project on alternative protein sources which open up for special focus on the water scarcity footprint of new proteins sources in the fish feed. The international and inter-disciplinary BlueGreenFeed team consisting of research experts from SINTEF (Norway), Taltech (Estonia), Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Iceland and MATIS (Iceland), will work in close cooperation with active industrial partners, representing each sector in the value chain ranging from grass processing (Vestjyllands Andel, Denmark), via the feather generating industry (Norsk Kylling, Norway), to insect producer (Bugimine, Estonia) and a fish feed company (Laxa, Iceland).

Aquaculture production is one of the most effective ways to produce animal protein and this sector has a high potential for sustainable jobs and growth. However, a major challenge is the urgent need for nutritious and sustainable feed resources. BlueGreenFeed will focus on producing new feed ingredients, that can to some extent replace soy proteins. The project aims to increase resource utilization in bio-based industries and contribute to the transition to a sustainable blue economy - in line with EU´s Bioeconomy and Circular economy strategies. BlueGreenFeed aims for value increase and profitability for the industry by finding new markets for underutilised green co-streams by converting them into nutritional and sustainable feed ingredients. The project will explore ways to pre-treat and process feathers and grass pulp to increase their digestibility and bioavailability for use in feed for low trophic animals such as insects (house crickets and meal worms) and aquatic invertebrates (gammarid shrimps and polychaete worms). The ability of these organisms to grow and bio-convert the nutritionally poor substrates into nutritious biomass will be tested. The nutritional value of these organisms and their suitability as aquafeeds in fish feeding trials will be evaluated. Economically feasible and sustainable ways for bio-upgrading low value side streams into high value proteins and lipids for feed industries will be proposed after in depth economic and sustainability analysis. The inter-disciplinary BlueGreenFeed team consists of research experts (SINTEF, Taltech, Aarhus University, MATIS, University of Iceland), working in close cooperation with active industrial partners, representing each sector in the value chain ranging from grass processing (Vestjyllands Andel), via the feather generating industry (Norsk kylling), to insect producer (Bugimine, Montasjen) and a fish feed company (Laxa).