Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AUTOMARUS (Novel Automated System for Farming of European Lobster)
Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2022-07-31
The AUTOMARUS Phase 2 project aims to prototype and pilot a revolutionary process for land-based farming of European lobster (EL, Homarus gammarus) based on RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture System) to later commercialize EL. The goal is to deliver the first fully automated RAS enabled large-scale production facility of EL.
Landings of EL rarely exceed 5,000 tonnes annually. The global demand for lobster far exceeds supplies, but the dramatic increase in capture production of AL in recent years is threatening wild AL stocks while restricting expansion. The shortfall is supplemented to some extent by spiny and rock lobsters (SRL), closer in size to true lobsters but more comparable to langoustine in taste and texture. With the price of EL at €25-35/kg, the European seafood industry is missing out on a clear market opportunity. The EU and NO have implemented measures to safeguard EL stocks, and to protect or restore discrete habitats but this has had little effect. In consequence, aquaculture is the most credible alternative approach to secure a sustainable supply of EL, but current aquaculture methods are commercially unviable as lobsters are highly cannibalistic and cannot be reared in groups, making aquaculture unscalable and inefficient.
We have developed the first-ever land-based RAS solution for producing high-quality EL at commercial scale, using individual cages to prevent cannibalism, and automation/robotics to lower production costs, ensuring a high degree of profitability. Our unique solution will facilitate superior quality EL in a secure and sustainable process that represents a breakthrough in the aquaculture industry. Our proprietary solution, , comprises an advanced image processing system to monitor lobster development combined with an automated feeding system and robotic lobster handling.
Landings of EL rarely exceed 5,000 tonnes annually. The global demand for lobster far exceeds supplies, but the dramatic increase in capture production of AL in recent years is threatening wild AL stocks while restricting expansion. The shortfall is supplemented to some extent by spiny and rock lobsters (SRL), closer in size to true lobsters but more comparable to langoustine in taste and texture. With the price of EL at €25-35/kg, the European seafood industry is missing out on a clear market opportunity. The EU and NO have implemented measures to safeguard EL stocks, and to protect or restore discrete habitats but this has had little effect. In consequence, aquaculture is the most credible alternative approach to secure a sustainable supply of EL, but current aquaculture methods are commercially unviable as lobsters are highly cannibalistic and cannot be reared in groups, making aquaculture unscalable and inefficient.
We have developed the first-ever land-based RAS solution for producing high-quality EL at commercial scale, using individual cages to prevent cannibalism, and automation/robotics to lower production costs, ensuring a high degree of profitability. Our unique solution will facilitate superior quality EL in a secure and sustainable process that represents a breakthrough in the aquaculture industry. Our proprietary solution, , comprises an advanced image processing system to monitor lobster development combined with an automated feeding system and robotic lobster handling.
Our innovation includes a fully automated technology for production of plate sized lobsters. Our long-term approach to keep 20 °C in the seawater has been based on RAS technology with 95% recirculation of seawater. However, the recent advances using low-grade wastewater from data centres enable us to use single flow through system (FTS) instead of RAS, reducing both CAPEX and OPEX, in addition to lowering the technical risks when scaling-up, overall simplifying our scale-up process. As the world´s pioneer on land-based lobster farming, data centre integrations significantly reduce the risks for both, our company and our new investors. On the other hand, using low-grade wastewater does noes prohibit us from establishing RAS farms in the future, and we have more than 20 years’ experience within this production method in pilot and semi-commercial production levels.
During the project we have elevated the sub-components of our innovative farming solution and integrated them into a TRL8 protype which has been thoroughly tested and optimised before the deployment of our large-scale pilot.
During the first reporting period, we carried out modifications in the lobster hatchery to be in line with the requirements for industrial scale-up.
During the second reporting period, we have successfully overcome all the technical difficulties of finetuning a complete integrated system for plate sized lobster production. In addition, we have achieved encouraging biological results proving that the system promotes growth, low FCR and good environmental conditions (e.g. water quality). We have completed all tasks and submitted all deliverables, successfully reaching all the milestones planned for the Automarus project.
We can confirm that our technology has been validated and we are now ready for a commercial launch and scale-up.
During the project we have elevated the sub-components of our innovative farming solution and integrated them into a TRL8 protype which has been thoroughly tested and optimised before the deployment of our large-scale pilot.
During the first reporting period, we carried out modifications in the lobster hatchery to be in line with the requirements for industrial scale-up.
During the second reporting period, we have successfully overcome all the technical difficulties of finetuning a complete integrated system for plate sized lobster production. In addition, we have achieved encouraging biological results proving that the system promotes growth, low FCR and good environmental conditions (e.g. water quality). We have completed all tasks and submitted all deliverables, successfully reaching all the milestones planned for the Automarus project.
We can confirm that our technology has been validated and we are now ready for a commercial launch and scale-up.
Our key novelty revolves around our adapted approach to lobster out-growth and our key differentiation features: lower production costs and higher product quality combined with new products not available on the market today, high supply volume and year-round supply guarantee, as well as vastly improved sustainability taking pressure of wild stocks. The main novelty features of the solution are summarised below:
1. Enables novel EL products: Wild-caught EL and AL have strict minimum size limits, beyond the point optimal meat quality and, for EL, a ban on selling soft-shell animals. These limitations will not be an issue for our farmed alternative enabling us to launch new and superior products on the market, e.g. plate-size (best meat quality) and softshell options.
2. Comprehensive image capture, processing, monitoring and charting plus control of feeding (amount, frequency) and water parameters (temperature, pH, O2, CO2, salinity etc.): Unlike wild alternatives, our solution’s careful monitoring of animal growth and welfare will allow us to fully control all aspects of the production process and ensure full traceability of the product.
3. Automated operation with robotic handling from entry into the facility to harvest: Not only will the full automation of the production facility give us an unprecedented level of control over the process and product quality but also dramatically reduce labour costs to make land-based EL farming commercially viable for the first time and enable us to launch this new value chain to meet the market pull for high-quality, high-status lobster.
4. Land-based, closed production chain: The general inputs required for either FTS or RAS farming of EL will be minimal. While we will rely on input of wild-caught berried females to our brood stock gene bank, the survival rate in our hatchery (currently >18%) will far surpass survival of wild larvae (estimated <0.01%) making this a small input for a very large gain. In terms of water use, our final concept is flexible in terms of flow-though (FTS), partial reuse or full recirculation (RAS). While RAS enables us to recirculate >90% of our water volume while efficiently cleaning the small amount of effluent, FTS is a simpler way to provide fresh seawater to the lobsters if the seawater is available at 20°C. Fish faeces and waste feed, which are the major pollution sources from mariculture, will be caught in the water treatment system and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. The use of land-based FTS or RAS will thus result in a truly sustainable product.
1. Enables novel EL products: Wild-caught EL and AL have strict minimum size limits, beyond the point optimal meat quality and, for EL, a ban on selling soft-shell animals. These limitations will not be an issue for our farmed alternative enabling us to launch new and superior products on the market, e.g. plate-size (best meat quality) and softshell options.
2. Comprehensive image capture, processing, monitoring and charting plus control of feeding (amount, frequency) and water parameters (temperature, pH, O2, CO2, salinity etc.): Unlike wild alternatives, our solution’s careful monitoring of animal growth and welfare will allow us to fully control all aspects of the production process and ensure full traceability of the product.
3. Automated operation with robotic handling from entry into the facility to harvest: Not only will the full automation of the production facility give us an unprecedented level of control over the process and product quality but also dramatically reduce labour costs to make land-based EL farming commercially viable for the first time and enable us to launch this new value chain to meet the market pull for high-quality, high-status lobster.
4. Land-based, closed production chain: The general inputs required for either FTS or RAS farming of EL will be minimal. While we will rely on input of wild-caught berried females to our brood stock gene bank, the survival rate in our hatchery (currently >18%) will far surpass survival of wild larvae (estimated <0.01%) making this a small input for a very large gain. In terms of water use, our final concept is flexible in terms of flow-though (FTS), partial reuse or full recirculation (RAS). While RAS enables us to recirculate >90% of our water volume while efficiently cleaning the small amount of effluent, FTS is a simpler way to provide fresh seawater to the lobsters if the seawater is available at 20°C. Fish faeces and waste feed, which are the major pollution sources from mariculture, will be caught in the water treatment system and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. The use of land-based FTS or RAS will thus result in a truly sustainable product.