Norway has a national ambition for growth in aquaculture production. A sustainable growth in the industry is dependent on the ability to use more sustainable feed raw materials. Microalgae have the potential to become a sustainable feed raw material that can meet both requirements for volume, nutrient composition and environmental sustainability.
In the future, microalgae may constitute a large proportion of the feed for Norwegian farmed salmon. Marine microalgae are "primary producers" and are the basis of all aquatic food chains. Unlike larger plants, microalgae can grow extremely quickly and often double in number and total weight in just one day. To grow so quickly, microalgae need CO₂. Previous projects have shown that CO₂-rich flue gas from the ferrosilicon smelter Finnfjord AS is well suited for the production of microalgae.
The microalgae use light as an energy source to capture and convert CO₂ into a nutrient-rich biomass that contains very beneficial nutrients for, among other things, fish. Through previous projects, we have worked with cultivation and optimization of growth conditions for microalgae. However, we still need to know more about the digestibility and growth and effect of microalgae in the feed when it comes to product quality and salmon health.
We also don’t know how much algae can be added to the feed.