Abstract for Aquaponic Farming

This abstract reflects general technical and market aspects of aquaponic farming

2

INTRODUCTION

INVERT SUGAR ABSTRACTThe food and drink industry depends heavily on enzymes. Enzymes produced by yeast have been used for thousands of years in brewing and baking. Invert sugar (IS) contains fructose and glucose in roughly equal proportions. The Invert sugar is greater in demand than pure glucose as food and drink sweeteners, because fructose is sweeter than glucose.Main consumers of Invert Sugar are the baking, beverages, canning, confectionery and dairy industries. In addition, high fructose syrup is used in

Over centuries, the growth ofagriculture contributed to the rise ofcivilizations. 2,000 years ago, much ofearth’s population becamedependent on agriculture. ForThousands of years, agriculturaldevelopment was very slow. A periodof important agricultural inventionsbegan in the early 1700s leading to adramatically increased foodproduction in Europe and Europeancolonies. In the early 1800s, scientistsdiscovered which elements are mostessential for plant growth: nitrogen,phosphorus, and potassium. Now,many farmers use chemical fertilizersbecause they greatly increase cropyields. With the use of chemicals,crop losses and prices have declinedsignificantly. Nowadays, agricultureincludes Aquaponics, which means

a food production system, thatcombines a traditional aquaculture(the rearing of aquatic animals orthe cultivation of aquatic plants forfood) with hydroponics (the scienceof growing plants in nutrientsolutions) in a symbioticenvironment. The fishes bred in theaquaculture part excrete toxicAmmonia, that have to be removedfrom the system. This Ammoniarepresents a potential nitrogensource for plants. Hence theaddition of a hydroponic to aaquaculture fish farm results insynergistic effects for both sides.The plants function as biologicalfilter for the aquaculture system, onthe other hand the fish excretionrepresents a fertilizer for theplants.

Aquaponic culture has lessproduction costs for both products,fish and vegetables, due to theirsynergistic effects and represents amodern state of the art concept toincrease healthy and sustainablefood security.Food production must keep pacerelative to population growth anddistribution methods and has toincrease by 70% by 2050. This is anenormous agriculture and politicalchallenge.

2

THE FARMED PRODUCT

INVERT SUGAR ABSTRACTThe food and drink industry depends heavily on enzymes. Enzymes produced by yeast have been used for thousands of years in brewing and baking. Invert sugar (IS) contains fructose and glucose in roughly equal proportions. The Invert sugar is greater in demand than pure glucose as food and drink sweeteners, because fructose is sweeter than glucose.Main consumers of Invert Sugar are the baking, beverages, canning, confectionery and dairy industries. In addition, high fructose syrup is used in

The major benefit of aquaponicfood production is that twoagricultural products (fish andvegetables) are produced fromone nitrogen source (fish food).

Several fish species haverecorded excellent growth rate inaquaponic units. Fish speciessuitable for aquaponic farminginclude: tilapia, common carp,silver carp, grass carp,barramundi, jade perch, catfish,trout, salmon, Murray cod andlargemouth bass. Some of thesespecies which are availableworldwide, grow particularly wellin aquaponic units. In planning

an aquaponic facility it iscritical to appreciate theimportance of the availabilityof healthy fish from reputablelocal suppliers. The harvestedfish will be distributed to localan regional markets, as wholefish, gilled & beheaded fish andfillets & conveniences.

Up to 90 percent of thefinancial gains can come from

plant production. One reason isthe rapid turnover rate ofvegetables compared with thefish. Many types of plants cangrow in aquaponic systems.The effort is to culture a plantthat will generate the highestlevel of income per unit areaper unit time. With thiscriterion, culinary herbs are thebest choice. They grow veryfast and guarantee high marketprices. The income from herbssuch as basil, cilantro chives,parsley, portulaca and mint ismuch higher than the incomeof fruting corps like tomatos orcucumbers.

2

FARMING

INVERT SUGAR ABSTRACTThe food and drink industry depends heavily on enzymes. Enzymes produced by yeast have been used for thousands of years in brewing and baking. Invert sugar (IS) contains fructose and glucose in roughly equal proportions. The Invert sugar is greater in demand than pure glucose as food and drink sweeteners, because fructose is sweeter than glucose.Main consumers of Invert Sugar are the baking, beverages, canning, confectionery and dairy industries. In addition, high fructose syrup is used in

The design of an aquaponicsystems is a recirculatingsystems with five functionalareas:

1. Rearing Tank2. Mechanical filtration3. Biological filtration4. Hydroponic System5. Sump

In the Rearing Tank (1.)different fish species can becultured. To cover the highcapital cost and operatingexpenses of aquaponic systemsto earn profit, it is necessarythat fish rearing must be

operating near the maximumproduction capacity. That’s whywe need freshwater species,which can tolerate crowdinglike Tilapia or Asian sea bass.The rearing tank will be treatedwith oxygen and fish food.Afterwards the soiled watercycles through different stepsof filtration. At first theMechanical filtration (2.)Organic waste like uneaten fishfood and solid excrementsshould be removed from thewaste stream before thehydroponic system. If thisorganic matter accumulates inthe system, it will depress Flowchart of the essential processing

steps of aquaponic

REARING TANK

MECHANICAL Filter

BIOLOGICAL Filter

HYDROPONICSYSTEM

SUMP

2

FARMING

INVERT SUGAR ABSTRACTThe food and drink industry depends heavily on enzymes. Enzymes produced by yeast have been used for thousands of years in brewing and baking. Invert sugar (IS) contains fructose and glucose in roughly equal proportions. The Invert sugar is greater in demand than pure glucose as food and drink sweeteners, because fructose is sweeter than glucose.Main consumers of Invert Sugar are the baking, beverages, canning, confectionery and dairy industries. In addition, high fructose syrup is used in

dissolved oxygen or decomposeanaerobically and producemethane and hydrogen sulfide,which are very toxic to fish. Inthe following the water passesa Biological filtration (3.). Thewater is treated by convertingdissolved ammonia, a toxicmetabolite excreted by fish,into harmless nitrate. Thisconversion, operated bybeneficial bacteria(Nitrosomonas Bacteria andNitrobactor Bacteria). Thisprocess is called nitrification.Nitrate is relatively harmless tothe fish and is the primarynitrogen source for the plants.

The purified and nitrate treatedwater is now used to operate aHydroponic System (4.). Thehydroponic system is a soil-lesshorticulture method of growingagricultural crops. Varioussubstrates provide plantsupport and moistureretention. Within these mediaoptions, irrigation systems areintegrated, providing anutrient-rich solution to theroot zones. All the necessarynutrients for plant growth aresupplied by this solution. Thewater flows by gravity fromgravel, sand and raft hydroponicsystems to a Sump (5.), which

is the lowest point in thesystem . The sump is a goodlocation for the addition ofbase to the system for examplepotassium.The sump contains a pump oppump inlet that returns thetreated water to the rearingtanks which close theaquaponic cycle.

3

PROCESSING

The processing has to bedivided into two different parts.Processing of the harvested fishand processing of the farmedplants.The harvested fish will beprocessed in the associatedprocessing facility. Afterwardsthe processed fish will bedistributed to local an regionalmarkets. The final products are:WHOLE FISH:The farmed fish will be keptwhole and frozen directly afterharvesting.GILLED AND BEHEADED FISH:The harvested fish will be gilledand beheaded.

FILLETS & CONVENIENCES:The fillets will be provided tosatisfy the local demand.Further it is possible to provideconveniences like marinatefillets for the local market.The farmed plants areharvested and can be soldeither directly as fresh andunprocessed food or (aftersome processing steps) asprocessed convenience food.The necessary processing stepsare sorting, washing, packagingand freezing.Food processing means timesaving to the costumer who willappreciate that in the

hectic times today. A furtherprocessing to a finished meal isconceivable in future, meaninga higher investment volume.Local processing of theproduced vegetables meansshortening of storage andtransport times during theprocessing. This leads to highercontent of vitamins and otherimportant ingredients in thefinished product compared to asale of the unprocessed foodon a market the next day. Thismore healthy products willmeet the future marketexpectations and lead tosatisfied costumer.

4

MARKET

Due to the growing worldpopulation the global foodproduction has grown in thelast decades similar to theglobal trade with food. Asshown in the figure, especiallytrading fish and vegetableoutpace the world populationgrowth of 1.6% withapproximately 5% and 6%respectively.There is an increasing demandfor high quality food productsand an increasing awareness ofconsumers for the nutritionalvalue. For aquaponic farmingtwo products have to beconsidered: Fish or seafoodproducts as well as vegetables.

The global fish consumption isincreasing by 57 percent, from62.7 million tons in 1997 to98.6 million tons in 2020. Thishigh demand will not be meet

by capture fisheries alone due toovercatching and decreasing wildstocks. It will be only feasible ifaquaculture production willincrease significantly.

4

MARKET

The production of sufficient food for the population hasmany advantages in the short, medium and long termincluding purposes of food security, creation ofemployment, preservation of resources, and savings onforeign currency reserves.Several issues have to be considered: human populationgrowth trends, enhanced production from capturefisheries, availability of more natural resources foraquaculture, greater demand for fish proteins, governmentpolicies and legislations, domestication and geneticimprovement of cultured species and environmentallysustainable culture technology.Consequently, people are now becoming more conscioustowards healthiness and are focusing on healthy and dietfoods. Diabetes is another concern increasing the shift tohealthy foods. Demand for healthy alternatives is expectedto increase as public awareness about healthier eatinghabits grows. Both products, fresh fish and vegetables, fitto this modern lifestyle.

ensymm is a German based premier project consultingcompany for Life Sciences, serving biotech companies,pharmaceutical industry and food ingredientcompanies. We provide clients with a variety of businessand technology consulting services as well as withspecialized teams in various areas of our competence.

For further inquiries and quotes, please contact:

ensymm UG & Co.KGLife Science Center DusseldorfMerowingerplatz 140225 DusseldorfGermany

Tel: 0049 2113367527Project_assistant@ensymm.comwww.ensymm.com