Whisky byproduct shows promise as feed ingredient
June 7, 2018
By
Liza Mayer
First wine, now whisky.
A startup that’s developing aquaculture feed made with byproducts from the whisky distilling process has attracted roughly $671,600 (£500,000) in investment.
The company, MiAlgae, uses by-products from the distilling process to grow Omega 3-rich algae for feeding farmed salmon.
Douglas Martin founded the company while a masters student at the University of Edinburgh in 2015-16. He said he wanted to revolutionize the animal and fish feed industries with microalgae that come from whisky.
The investment, in equal shares from Equity Gap, the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scotland’s enterprise agencies, and the University’s venture fund Old College Capital, will enable the company to expand its team and build a pilot plant for its technology at a whisky distillery.
"This investment will fund the initial scale-up steps and de-risk our commercial facility. It certainly sets us on track to achieve our ambitions," Martin said.
Earlier, in Australia, an aquaculture feed made with grape marc – skins, pulp, seeds, and stems left over after wine is made – has shown promising results in lab trials.
Douglas Martin founder of MiAlgae 
