Gas 2 Feed turns air into sustainable fish feed

Never before have people consumed so much fish. Worldwide, aquaculture plays an increasingly larger role in eliminating hunger, promoting health and reducing poverty.

While aquaculture is the most sustainable form of livestock production, current fish feed options pose the industry’s biggest environmental challenge. In Norway, for example, fish feed accounts for over 75 per cent of salmon farming’s environmental impact of which Soy imposes the largest footprint. This is because soy cultivation requires huge amounts of land and water. Much of it is grown on felled rainforest land in Brazil and then transported across the ocean,” explains Dragvik.

Gas 2 Feed uses biotechnology and microorganisms to capture CO₂ and convert it into a sustainable salmon feed ingredient to replace protein ingredients such as soy concentrate and fish meal currently used today. Fermentation, electrolysis and carbon capture are at the core of this innovative process.

“We are industrialising the processes of nature. We are speeding up photosynthesis, using all the good microorganisms and exploring cultivation of nutritional material,” says Dragvik.

Read more about Gas 2 Feed technology and protein without footprint

Put simply, specialised microorganisms capture and convert CO₂ into single cell proteins, while electrolysis is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. When these are combined in the Gas 2 Feed reactor, the microorganisms will produce single cell proteins with an amino acid profile similar to fish meal.

Fully biogenic, the CO₂ used in this process comes from closed fish farms. The result is a high-quality protein from an inexpensive source of carbon. In the future, CO₂ from air will be used as well, providing an unlimited source of green CO₂ for higher production volumes.

Gas 2 Feed solves one of aquaculture’s greatest challenges – the need for sustainable and circular feed ingredients.

“Our single cell protein will be the most sustainable protein source on the market. It will have the smallest carbon footprint, the lowest land use and the lowest water consumption. Plus, it will be locally produced,” says Dragvik.

Compared to soy-based protein, protein from CO₂ reduces the carbon footprint of salmon farming by 40 per cent and increases carbon recycling by 30 per cent.

In addition, this method of feed production uses 2 000 times less water and 65 000 times less land than traditional agriculture. It also provides a supply of new protein without competing with other food production.

Read more about the Gas 2 Feed Lista Project

Gas 2 Feed is working with its sister company, EcoFishCircle, to establish the circular use of carbon in aquaculture. EcoFishCircle is testing its next-generation recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) and has developed proprietary technology for removing CO₂ from seawater. This, along with fish respiration, will supply Gas 2 Feed with biogenic CO₂.

Read more: EcoFishCircle reduces land-based aquaculture’s carbon footprint

Gas 2 Feed technology is currently under development. During 2022 and 2023, its team will optimise fermentation metrics and product quality on a pilot scale. In cooperation with EcoFishCircle, Gas 2 Feed will soon establish the Lista Project, the first facility to demonstrate its sustainable and circular aquaculture system.

“We are building on technology developed by NASA in the 1960s for manned space exploration. While it’s not our current objective, it opens the gateway for production of protein as human food,” concludes Dragvik.