Algae from ethanol plant shows promise as poultry feed

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Kris Bevill October 18, 2011

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.

In addition to the high protein content, BioProcess Algae’s strain was also shown to be comparable to soy meal in amino acid profiles. Also, the high energy content of the algae could also be used as a more cost-effective source of Omega-3 fatty acids in poultry diets, he said. “We believe this may be one of the first times that carbon dioxide absorbed from an industrial source was used to grow and harvest algae that performed well in feed trials,” Burns said.

Approximately 160 million metric tons of poultry feed are used every year, according to Burns.

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