A new company will produce omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA from natural marine algae for animal nutrition.
Veramaris, established by DSM and Evonik, will operate from a US$200m production facility at the Evonik site in Blair, Nebraska (United States), with initial annual production capacity expected to meet roughly 15% of the total current annual demand for EPA and DHA by the salmon aquaculture industry.
Karim Kurmaly, CEO of Veramaris, said: “Our algal oil, rich in both EPA and DHA, is our response to the industry’s call for a sustainable and traceable source of the omega3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. Veramaris will now enable our partners along the value chain to grow in a responsible way and meet the demand for healthy animal protein rich in both EPA and DHA for consumer health.”
Build in progress
Construction of the facility has commenced and commercial quantities of the algal oil, created to enable the production of EPA and DHA without using fish oil from wild-caught fish for the first time, are anticipated to be ready for sale in 2019.
Currently, a total of 16m metric tonnes of wild fish are caught for the production of fish oil and fishmeal. By using natural marine algae, Veramaris aims to help close the omega-3 EPA and DHA supply-demand gap, while helping to conserve marine life and biodiversity in the oceans
Alongside marine biologist Mr Kurmaly, who has been with DSM for more than 16 years, most recently as vice president animal nutrition & health in Asia Pacific, Veramaris will be led by CFO Frank Beissmann, an engineer who has been with Evonik for more than 20 years and has held various positions in production, supply chain, marketing and controlling.
The joint venture is headquartered at the DSM Biotech Campus in Delft, the Netherlands.
