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. DSM Nutritional Products and Evonik Nutrition & Care reportedly plan to invest around $200 million in the facility. The initial annual production capacity will meet roughly 15% of the current total annual demand for EPA and DHA by the salmon aquaculture industry, according to Evonik. The facility is expected to come onstream in 2019. In March 2017, the companies announced a joint venture, Veramaris, headquartered in The Netherlands.
Evonik has been operating a facility in Blair for the fermentative production of Biolys - the amino acid L-lysine - for almost 20 years. The new plant will be located adjacent to Evonik’s 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.
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, according to the company. Initial applications will be in salmon aquaculture and pet food.
Evonik’s and DSM’s 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, according to Evonik. Until the facility in Blair opens, DSM and Evonik will produce pilot-scale quantities of the algal oil at DSM’s production facility in Kingstree, South Carolina. Customers will reportedly be able to receive sizeable quantities of the product for market development while the construction of the new manufacturing plant gets underway.
For more information, visit: www.evonik.com
