Biofarming- with some great new twists!

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Many of you know that I have been working with water reuse systems for some four decades now. One of the first projects was the development (and sale) of a home wastewater recycling system. During it’s development, we found that certain high use conditions led to a buildup of ammonia in the returning (clean) wastewater to the toilet. Trust me, there are only so many times you can tell the homeowner that the ammonia smell means their toilet bowl is clean. (If you must know, once was about the limit!)

So, I began a crunch development program to fix this problem. And, luckily, developed a strain of microbes  that could convert the ammonia to nitrogenous gases, which bubbled out of the water, along with the air exhaust that came from the aerobic treatment module. (The complete system was comprised of an anaerobic biological component, aerobic treatment, ultrafiltration membranes, activated carbon beds, followed by ultraviolet light disinfection.) This was a holistic approach- in that each component worked with the next, keeping the operating (and capital) costs down, and rendering the device most functional.

And, that serves as introduction to a new process being developed by a firm in the UK, Marizka. Marizka is basically three biochemical engineering students (Dr. Leonardo Rios, Dr. Pat Morris, and Homam Bahrani) from the University College (London).  Initial funding has been obtained from Nick Wheeler (an angel investor); crowdfunding may also be employed to help this company along.

Marizka’s product is a specialized shrimp farming concept that uses specialized microbes. The microbes actually treat the shrimp excretions- until there are enough of them to then serve as ‘fodder’ for the shrimp growth. (Note that the bacteria will only yield about 30% of the nutritional requirements of the shrimp; additional food must still be supplied- in this case, a special starch, upon which the bacteria grow, too, thereby eradicating potential waste effluent problems.) The system also plans to use solar energy to power the system, so the shrimp can be grown indoors. (I know this sort of concept works; we actually used water recycling processes and solar energy to grow a certain species of fish, allowing us to be certain we had kosher caviar for sale by one of our entities.)

Marizka hopes to make this system available to developing countries to provide food (eradicating potential malnourishment, while it generates a cash crop for sale), without creating environmental hazards- at lower costs than conventional shrimp farming affords presently.

Conventional shrimp farms have significant effluent problems, and often involve clearing out mangrove forests to produce the “lakes” that serve as the shrimp farms. About 55% of the shrimp you folks eat (they are not kosher- I don’t partake) come from such farming operations (the other 45% are captured wild).  Shrimp farming has been growing by about 10% a year.  Another issue with shrimp farms is that they gobble up about 25% of the world’s fishmeal (food upon which the the shrimp grow).

Marizka believes (this “product” is still in the development stage) their modular farms will yield some 10,000 shrimp every quarter (about the same as do conventional shrimp farms). The modules are comprised of layered trays, each capable of sustaining a population of 300 per m2. (To give you an idea of the size of one of their units, each one is about 5 m2, or about 1 yard by 1 yard by 2 yards high in English measurements units).
The same yield at an intensive shrimp farm (with active aeration) would entail some 1 hectares or about 2.5 acres of space. (Less intensive farms would employ some 3-4 hectares for the same yields.) These farmed shrimp are normally fed specialized pellets of fishmeal, of which 70% end up as waste- not including the excretions of the shrimp themselves.

Just from an environmental point of view, this could be a great improvement.  If the solar power does cover all the needs, then this product will probably get the market acceptance for which these folks hope.

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2 thoughts on “Biofarming- with some great new twists!”

    1. Glad you found this out, Amy…
      Not quite the same as land farming, but, then, again… this could make a big difference in places where land is not available for such food production.
      Thanks for the visit and the comment.

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