USA: Animal Nutrition DSM and Evonik Select Nebraska for Omega-3 Production

Evonik and Royal DSM will locate the commercial-scale production facility for their omega-3 fatty acids from natural marine algae for animal nutrition in Blair, Nebraska.

Blair/USA — The companies plan to invest around $ 200 million (approx. € 178 million) in the facility ($ 100 million by each party over circa two years). The initial annual production capacity will meet roughly 15 % of the current total annual demand for EPA and DHA by the salmon aquaculture industry. The facility is expected to come on stream in 2019. The establishment of the joint venture, to be named Veramaris and headquartered in The Netherlands, will be finalized subject to regulatory approvals.

Blair, Nebraska was chosen as Evionik has been operating a facility there for the fermentative production of Biolys — the amino acid L-lysine — for almost 20 years. The new plant will be located adjacent to the current facility on Cargill’s site, with established access to the raw materials needed to produce the high value and pure EPA+DHA omega-3 fatty acid oil.

Germany: Fish Farming and Animal Nutrition

DSM and Evonik Establish Joint Venture for Omega-3 Fatty Acids from Natural Marine Algae

Both companies announced in March 2017 the start of a joint venture for this purpose. It will, for the first time, allow for the production of omega-3 fatty acids for animal nutrition without using any fish oil from wild caught fish, a finite resource. Initial applications will be in salmon aquaculture and pet food.

According to the JV, the highly concentrated algal oil will enable the animal nutrition industry to keep up with the increasing demand for these two essential omega-3 fatty acids without endangering fish stocks, helping to contribute to healthy animal nutrition as well as to the ecological balance and biodiversity of the oceans.

Until the facility in Blair opens, the partners will produce pilot-scale quantities of the algal oil at DSM’s production facility in Kingstree, South Carolina (United States). Customers will be able to receive sizeable quantities of the product for market development while the construction of the new manufacturing plant gets underway, the companies said.

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