The potential of fish and fish oil waste for bioenergy generation: Norway and beyond

Abstract

This article examines the potential of fish waste for liquid and gaseous biofuels, with focus on Norway but also some consideration of other markets. Fish production and processing wastes are a significant source of material for bioenergy production. Norway is a country of high fish production, but currently low development of the bioenergy sector due to the ample availability of hydropower. World fish consumption per capita nearly doubled over the last 45 years. The resulting increase in fish processing wastes and the expansion of the renewable energy market imply that fish processing wastes could play a part in the future of biofuels. Fish processing wastes rich in fat may be used for biodiesel, although blending with other diesels may be necessary to meet biodiesel specification standards. Fish processing wastes are also suitable for biogas production, although these materials will have to be added as a co-substrate to boost the biogas production of plants treating agricultural or municipal wastes, due to the inhibitory effects of long chain fatty acids and high protein concentrations. A sustainable use of biogas in Norway would be as fuel for vehicles, as is the preferred future utilization in neighboring Sweden. In other countries with better developed gas grids, an increasing proportion of biogas will likely be used for grid injection to replace natural gas.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Otto Andersen and Jan-Erik Weinbach for their assistance with data used to calculate biodiesel yields, to several Norwegian experts assisting in recording the approximate amounts of fish oil waste and informing us about fish oil refining, and especially to GC Rieber, a Norwegian fish oil refining company for making analysis data available for our purpose.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.