Big Algae Chases Omega-3 Dominance: DSM, Evonik Enderway on $200M Algae Project in Nebraska

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) DSM and Evonik have given a name to their joint venture to produce omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA from natural marine algae for animal nutrition — something that’s been traditionally been made from wild-caught fish oil. They’re calling it Veramaris — and they’re cutting out the middlefish, more or less, as Cellana CEO Martin Sabarsky frequently describes the similar capability of his team’s technology.

In another piece of news, the 50:50 joint venture — headquartered at the DSM Biotech Campus in Delft, Netherlands — has commenced construction of a $200 million production facility at the Evonik site in Blair, Nebraska. It’s DSM’s largest one-off investment in biobased production capacity since the building of the commercial-scale POET-DSM cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

The news comes amidst confirmation that Corbion is in talks to acquire Bunge’s stake in SB Renewable Oils, the JV it originated several years ago with Solazyme. Corbion acquired the old Solazyme interest as TerraVia (as Solazyme was re-named) went into bankruptcy, and Corbion management reiterated its strong interest in the omega-3 segment via the AlgaPrime DHA product line. FeedNavigator is reporting that Bunge confirmed to shareholders, after dismal Q4 earnings, that it intends to exit both sugar trading and the renewable oils joint venture. Meanwhile, Bunge has not been able to shake off the persistent rumors that ADM is aimed at an acquisition, as the rounds of agribusiness consolidation continue.

All of which puts DHA and EPA under the microscope as a featured first “high margin, decent volume” product for algal technologies at scale — and places Omega-3s as a minor, but noticeable, driver in the acquisition wave.

The Nebraska biocluster

Meanwhile, let’s focus for a moment on Blair as a location. It’s a hub for Cargill, and Novozymes has co-located a massive enzymes plant, and Evonik makes lysine there. It’s become one of the spectacular bioclusters in the United States.

OK, so it’s actually cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) and not strictly algae, ....

And the technology is different than most algae ventures, too. No open ponds, for one; Veramaris uses fermentation.