In Scotland, Horizon Proteins is planning to build a plant to produce fish feed proteins from whiskey byproduct.
The company’s process extracts protein from the pot ale left over from the fermentation process. It aims to build a plant in Northeast Scotland that, by 2020, will produce 12,000 tonnes of protein per year—15% of Scotland’s salmon farming needs.
Aboubakry Diallo, strategic development director at Horizon Proteins, tells Herald Scotland the company is finalizing a venture capital investment to fund the facility. “[The salmon industry] is always looking for new protein sources and this is a great opportunity to use something that is locally available, compared to material sourced from South America,” he added.
The business, which was spun-out of Heriot-Watt University, should begin generating revenue in 2018. Instead of one, large centralized plant, its business model calls for a number of smaller plants.
Proof-of-concept trials at a Dufftown distillery were funded by a £575,000 (USD717,444) grant from Scottish Enterprise.