Recipient Organization
PHYCO BIOLOGICS, INC.
3416 ASHWOOD DRIVE
BLOOMINGTON,IN 47401
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Fish consumption has increased dramatically over the last 20 years. Unfortunately, this increase in demand for fish has resulted in an alarming depletion of the natural fisheries. With the closure of many marine fisheries due to over-harvesting and the increased domestic demand for fish it is evident that alternatives to harvesting fish from the wild need to be developed. Aquaculture is a rapidly growing alternative to harvesting wild fish. The increase in aquaculture has required an increase in the production of manufactured feeds. The main ingredients in traditional aquafeeds include fish meal and fish oil. Several kilograms of wild fish are required to produce each kilogram of farm-raised fish, which accounts for 40% and 60% of the global fish meal and oil production, respectively. In marine aquaculture, the importance of dietary omega long chain fatty acids is well-known. High value, marine carnivores require the omega-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) as essential fatty acids (EFA) that are major constituents of marine fish oils. Alternative sources are needed to replace the fish oil used in aquafeeds if aquaculture is to remain competitive and sustainable. An alternative source of fish oils in aquafeed may be algae. Algae are high in HUFA, and provide a high quality source of dietary lipids. A limitation to their widespread use in feeds is economic: the cultivation, harvesting and processing of algae is very expensive. The goal of this USDA SBIR Phase 1 Grant is to develop a continuous system for extracting lipids from algae directly into soybean oil using ultrasonics. The soy-algal oil product, including the remnant biomass, will be directly added with other ingredients during the manufacturing of the feed. We believe that this process will result in lower cost of supplementing feeds with algal oils due to higher bioavailability of algal oils in diets and reduced algal processing steps. This extraction and processing methods developed in this proposal are components of an integrated algal production system designed to further reduce the cost of the algal product.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this USDA SBIR Phase 1 Grant is to develop a continuous system for extracting lipids from algae directly into soybean oil using ultrasonics. The specific technical research objectives are to: 1) Establish lipid profiles for several algal species with high eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content; 2) Develop combinations of natural products that effectively flocculate each of the selected algal species; 3) Employ ultrasound cavitation to extract lipids from dewatered biomass of the selected algal species using soybean oil as a solvent, and; 4) Formulate a feed for cobia containing a soybean - algae oil mixture as the source of dietary lipids. The soy-algal oil product, including the remnant biomass, will be directly added with other ingredients during the manufacturing of the feed. Furthermore, the process proposed in this grant whereby algal oils are directly extracted into the soybean oil to produce an enriched nutritional oil product can have applications as an additive in other markets. The practice of augmenting animal diets with highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) - particularly DHA - to enhance the final product is increasing as market acceptance and demand increases for these beneficial lipids. Examples include DHA enriched swine meat, poultry eggs and dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yogurt.
Project Methods
An overall goal of this USDA is to develop a wet oil-extraction process using a combination of dewatering by flocculation followed by ultrasonic cavitation of the wet slurry using high density ultrasound (sonication). The two processes are components of an overall methodology for inexpensively growing, harvesting and processing algal biomass. Flocculation is a process by which particles dispersed in a solution are caused to aggregate. A major drawback to using synthetic flocculants, especially the widely used polyacrylamides or derivatives, is that they can be highly toxic to animals. As a result, there is a growing need for a safe and effective flocculation methods for treating process waste streams that does not contaminate the environment and will provide for a safe use for the recovered end-product. Natural flocculants can meet this need. The second component, high powered ultrasound, has found new applications in a wide range of chemical, materials, biological and agricultural technologies. Fundamentally, chemical processes are due to the interaction of energy and matter. Surprisingly, there are relatively few ways of transferring energy into a chemical process, and sonochemistry is one of the most efficient processes for inducing molecules with energy. Using an ultrasonic reactor, ultrasonic waves are used to create cavitation bubbles in a solvent material. When these bubbles collapse near the cell walls, it creates shock waves and liquid jets that cause those cells walls to break and release their contents into the solvent. We plan to employ the natural flocculants to concentrate the algae into a slurry followed by extraction of the algal lipids directly into soybean oil using a continuous flow pressurized ultrasonic device. This device will allow greater control of cavitation, and hence, the extraction process.