RAS salmon farmer signs deal to make the most of fish
Swiss Blue Salmon (SBS), which plans the “world’s smartest” on-land fish farm in eastern Switzerland, has formed a strategic partnership with Dantech (Danish Technology Centre) to make the best use of its in-house processing plant’s side streams.
SBS intends to produce 3,400 tonnes (round weight) of Atlantic salmon a year at the recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in the canton of Glarus and will incorporate technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, cloud solutions, digitalisation and automation in the RAS.
The company expects to have more than 1,000 tonnes of side streams annually from the processing plant, which it says presents a significant opportunity that must be seized.
Upcycling products
“We spend two years growing the salmon to its harvest weight and it would be almost unethical if we didn’t strive towards utilising as much of it as possible,” said founder and chief executive Rudolf Ryf in a press release.
Chief technology officer Sune Møller said Dantech, which has delivered innovative technology and solutions to the food industry since 1983, had been “leading the charge on upcycling products which we previously considered as waste”.
Dantech chief executive Kristina Joensen said: “Salmon processing side streams contain enormous value, if captured the right way at the right time in the process. The further upstream the streams are separated and processed, the more possibilities there are for new high value products. We’re working with Swiss Blue Salmon on fully automated side stream capturing, and complete processing solutions to the determined quality and market segments.”
More variety
SBS and Dantech said separating side streams at each step enables a larger variety of high value side products, as well as saving costs from losses, manpower, having to separate downstream and treating pollution e.g., hygienic issues, processing water, etc.
If the end product uses more than one side product, it can always be mixed later.
Dantech is working with SBS’ chosen processing equipment designers and suppliers to make the capturing of side streams and their processing an integrated part of the factory design installation. The side stream processing areas will be delivered by Dantech as a complete turnkey solution.
Billund Aquaculture
Last month SBS announced that it had formed a strategic partnership with Danish RAS specialist Billund Aquaculture to build the RAS facility.
At that time, Møller told Fish Farming Expert that SBS was engaged in a Series A fundraising round to cover costs of design and permitting and will start a Series B round before the end of the year to raise funds for construction work starting in the second quarter of 2023.
Along with using renewable power, 15-15% of which will come from the building’s own solar panels, SBS wanted to use 100% of the fish, added Møller, thereby “transforming what would otherwise be considered waste into either pharmaceutical grade products, food for human consumption, or pet food”.
