Algae from Ethanol Plant Shows Promise as Poultry Feed

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October 19, 2011

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by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) An algae strain grown by BioProcess Algae LLC at Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc.’s 65 MMgy ethanol plant in Shenandoah, Iowa, is one step closer to entering the poultry feed market. First-round feed trials recently conducted in conjunction with the University of Illinois, led by poultry science expert Carl Parsons, concluded that the algae feed has high energy and protein contents relative to comparable poultry feed products. The original goal of the trial was to determine the actual digestibility of the energy and protein from the algae compared to the soybean meal commonly used as poultry feed, said BioProcess Algae CEO Tim Burns. The trials showed that the algae not only tested well compared to soy meal, but also proved to have higher energy content than corn, distillers grains and 70 other common feed products, he said.

…Now that feed trials have proven successful, Burns said the next step is to evaluate the regulatory steps necessary to bring the product to the market. “Based on these first-round tests, we will continue the development of this and other high-quality animal feed products from our algae,” he said. “We will proceed with further testing for poultry and begin evaluating a replacement product for fishmeal.” READ MORE and MORE (Algae Industry Magazine) and MORE (Biofuels Digest)

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