News round-up: DSM opens seventh premix site in China, BioMar’s new shrimp feed extrusion line is operational and iCell creates US engineering alliance
Kicking off our briefs is the news that DSM opened a new animal nutrition and health premix plant in Baishazhou Industrial Park, Hengyang City, in China, on Wednesday [November 18].
The site is DSM’s second premix plant in Hunan Province and the seventh in the Chinese market.
The company said the build underscores its ‘commitment’ to China.
The Hengyang site will be one of the biggest premix plants globally, with an expected annual production of 120,000 metric tons, said DSM.
Enhancing shrimp extrusion
Meanwhile, BioMar said its new extrusion line in its Ecuadorian production facility is now operational, bringing the factory close to 200,000 tons total capacity.
With the new line installed, the Danish feed group said it can now provide a full range of both extruded and pelletized shrimp feeds in Ecuador.
“We are fast establishing a global footprint in shrimp and this new line brings increased flexibility and increased choice for our customers as it will expand our capacity for extruded and value-added feed solutions,” said Henrik Aarestrup VP, LATAM, shrimp and hatchery, BioMar Group.
“We also just went through a debottlenecking in our plant in Costa Rica increasing the shrimp feed capacity of that plant, which was originally designed for tilapia feed but now produces feed for both fish and shrimp to customers all over Central America,” he added.
BioMar also launched a new high-end diet, EXIA Maxio, targeting the most intensive part of the Ecuadorian shrimp farming sector. The feed suits customers looking for more nutritional dense diets, said the company.
In other developments, the Danish group said its joint venture with Tongwei in Wuxi, China has received the first Best Aquaculture Practice (BAP) certification in that market, with trout and turbot as declared species. The certification comes relatively shortly after the production facilities inauguration in May 2020.
Upcycling nutrients
Hong Kong headquartered single cell protein producer, iCell Sustainable Nutrition (iCell), reported this week that it has engaged Georgia Woodruff and Howe Engineering to design and develop projects in the US using iCell’s patented production process.
iCell, which is part of the Shanghai Gentech Industries Group, purchased the intellectual property of US company, Nutrinsic, in 2016, a start-up that developed the technology to upcycle nutrients in food process water into a single cell protein (SCP) for use in animal and aqua feed, and other sectors.
iCell said it has been identifying various sites in the US that need a solution to their food process water treatment issues – and is also working with investors for funding projects to solve these water issues and to integrate aquaculture production systems at the same sites.
Woodruff & Howe has over 20 years of environmental engineering and design experience, with the deep domain knowledge needed for working in food waste-water treatment projects, said the SCP developer.
The agreement will see the US firm manage the site evaluation and engineering design for iCell systems across the US.
