UMB - Upscaling and optimisation of microalgae production for bivalves hatchery

Farming of shellfish and seaweed is still new in Denmark and on a commercial scale is primarily limited to the production of longline mussels. It is mainly for mussels, that aquaculture production rely on natural spatfall. For all other species, such as oysters and macroalgae, hatcheries for the production of spat or seeding material are necessary. A major bottleneck in all bivalve hatchery is the food production, both in term of quantity and quality.

The native European flat oysters, is a key species in Denmark, both from its high commercial value, but also for restoration of reef, providing ecosystem good and services. A large R&D effort has been carried out at the Danish Shellfish Centre (DSC) to successfully develop a reliable production.

The next step is to scale up the production, which requires larger and better facilities. A new hatchery at DSC is nowadays under development and will be built during the year 2020 and finished in 2021. In this new facility a large part of the area is devoted to the production of microalgae to ensure the various food needs of the different bivalves produced.

One of the main development in this area is the use of photo-bioreactor and raceway ponds that can ease the production and help upscaling the level of production in the hatchery.

Although photo-bioreactors are well functioning for some microalgae species, the challenge is now to adapt them for our needs.

In order to develop and implement new microalgae production technologies at the future facility we contacted various companies and Universities. AlgoSolis in France seems the logical place to learn and collaborate on microalgae production, in view of their work at their R&D platform. Discussions lead to the opportunity of an internship application at AlgoSolis for exchange and training for real scale production using various technologies.