MARTINIS – Mariculture technical innovations in Sweden
Short description
The overall goal of the project is to develop novel land-based multi-trophic aquaculture systems beyond current state-of the art that will be used to build and diversify the Swedish aquaculture sector in a sustainable way.
Specifically, it aims to combine Swedish membrane technology with the use of Japanese marine Anammox bacteria and algae as sources of wastewater treatment from recirculating aquaculture system (RAS).
The Swedish aquaculture industry is now at an important turning point for its development, but it is facing urgent matters. Technical innovations are needed to make current practices more sustainable, such as the development of land-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), currently approached at the University of Gothenburg.
In conventional RAS, nitrogenous waste from the fish (ammonia/ammonium) is converted into nitrate, via nitrite, that slowly accumulates in the system. All those compounds are toxic to the fish.
The aim of the present project is to develop new, innovative RAS which includes a series of new water treatment processes, by integrating Swedish and Japanese technologies. The University of Hiroshima has isolated a marine strain of Anammox bacteria that can convert toxic ammonium and nitrite into harmless atmospheric nitrogen. The University of Lund uses membranes technologies as waste regulator of micro-pollutants.
In this project, developed within the frame of the MIRAI consortium, we will to combine those technological innovations to develop a novel generation RAS. This will be accomplished through exchange of knowledge and technologies between the two countries (study visits, workshops). This project will be a major step towards the development of a sustainable aquaculture industry.
