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A circular bioeconomy future for aquaculture
hat is the bioeconomy? According to the European Commission the bioeconomy comprises those parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea – such as crops, forests, fish, animals and micro-organisms – to produce food, materials and energy. As such, aquaculture is intrinsically linked to all the other parts of the sector; from food provision, which is the largest sector of the bioeconomy, to the development of fuels for air, road and marine applications to the generation of new smart materials utilising the chemistry that bio feedstocks bring to the party. It is here that aquaculture has a huge untapped potential. For example, inroads are already being made into off grid energy production in the UK’s SeaGas project1, which aims to cultivate sugar rich kelp for use as a feedstock for anaerobic digestion. This provides either biogas to use directly for heat and power or via upgrading to pure biomethane that can be directly injected into the grid as a certified green gas or used as a replacement for fossil diesel in HGV’s converted to run on liquified biomethane. There are wide ranges of research projects worldwide developing commercial routes to exploit the oils found in marine algae. Applications range from large-scale production of aircraft fuels, through Amyris’ trans β Farnesene platform, to the very high value pharmaceutical and nutraceutical oils like EPA and DHA as an alternative to the less sustainable extraction from fish livers. These synthetic routes allow developers a greater degree of supply chain integration than in the past as specified fatty acids can be ordered on long term, financially sustainable arrangements – which in itself creates additional value.2 Outside of the fields of energy and fuels, development continues in the production of plastics from chitosan: a chemical derived from the treatment of shells of crustacean such as shrimp with sodium hydroxide. One of the advantages of this unusual polymer is that at the end of its useful life it can be recycled via composting operations negating the need for separation and potentially disposal via landfill. It is possibly the only source of a biopolymer containing an amino function, with important applications in the synthetic chemistry industry.3
Circular economy in aquaculture
A circular economy is one where wastes and by-products continue to be utilised and fed back into the economy, creating a self-proliferating loop with minimal waste. For example, it is known that by feeding fish Dried Distillers Grains (DDGS), a by-product from the brewing industry, it is possible in some circumstances for fish to gain body mass at a ratio of around 1:1 for food mass input, resulting in increased yields of fish protein. Contrast this with ratios such as the 1:7 (and up to as high as 1:12) ratio for cattle farming, and the advantage is obvious. This can be taken a stage further where the fish waste can be used directly as feed for crustaceans, whose shells can in turn be utilised as a biochemical feedstock in currently developed processes. The chitosan based plastic has been shown to have antibacterial and oxygen absorbing properties, making it ideal packaging for food… such as for the fish from the original processing line. However, this is not yet a circular process, as the process still has a definite endpoint. Although, if one considers the fish and crustacean waste from the process that has not already been utilised, this can in turn be used as feedstock for anaerobic
digestion, generating energy. This energy can be utilised to perform the expensive drying process in the production of DDGS, or for the heating of the water in the original fish culture, thus “closing the loop” and resulting in a circular economy that is by nature far more commercially attractive than looking at these a separate vertical business strands. This is just one ‘integrated’ example of how aquaculture can benefit, not only from circular economy principles, but also from the bioeconomy.
Where does the NNFCC feature?
We have expert knowledge across all areas of the Bioeconomy, from market analysis to technical processes, and provide management consultancy for bioeconomy projects. Our expertise allows bioeconomy developers to advance their business strategy beyond their own specific knowledge of their sector. For the circular economy to work, it must be well managed, and we can provide organisations with the tools to maximise their profits and provide a more sustainable future for their company and their customers. Our work with the BioBase4SME and SuperBIO projects, makes available to UK and NW EU SME’s, money and technical assistance, access scale up facilities, provision of strategic business advice to innovative companies working in the bioeconomy allowing them to progress from the difficult TRL 5-8 ‘valley of death’ stage of innovation transition We also have demonstrable experience with algal based projects having been the major partner in the EnAlgae project, where we were responsible for investigating the political, economic, social, environmental and technological opportunities and barriers to algae use for energy in North West Europe, and developed a roadmap for future work, looking to promote the uptake of algae in all of its downstream sectors. We are also currently major participants in the DAFIA project, seeking to develop business models for the successful exploitation of fish waste as a resource, again showing our pedigree for work with the aquaculture sector. With the right development and business strategy, the marriage between aquaculture and the bioeconomy has extraordinary potential; it just needs exploiting. The NNFCC work closely with Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) through AwF’s co-ownership of the National Aquaculture Centre for which NNFCC is a preferred and trusted partner.
References
1) http://seagas.co.uk/ 2) http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/biotech/ sd-me-genomics-biofuel-20170619-story.html https://energy. gov/sites/prod/files/2017/05/f34/Algae_Huesemann_132501503%2C%20505.pdf 3) https://wyss.harvard.edu/technology/chitosan-bioplastic/ https://phys.org/news/2017-01-surf-earth-prawn-bags-planet.html
Jeremy Tomkinson is the Chief Executive of the NNFCC, which is the UK’s premier bioeconomy organisation and in that capacity, official advisor to the UK government on all connected matters. Chairman of AwF, Clifford Spencer stated that, “Apart from being a professional colleague, Jeremy is a trusted friend of decades standing.”
8 | September 2017 - International Aquafeed