Chile's Fiordo Austral Panitao plant processes 350 tonnes of salmon by-products per day; Germany's SARIA takes 36.45% stake

Chilean seafood company Fiordo Austral's Panitao plant in Puerto Montt receives by-products from the salmon farming industry, mainly processing them into fishmeal and fish oil, and extending into plant nutrition products. The plant was built and commissioned in 1997 and currently processes about 350 tonnes of raw material per day, with roughly 14% fishmeal yield and 22% fish oil yield as reference levels; actual ratios vary with the season and incoming material.

According to information provided by the company, about 30% of salmon that does not enter human consumption can be recovered and converted into raw materials for animal nutrition, aquaculture, pet food and agricultural inputs. The plant's processing flow begins with cooking the raw material, followed by pressing to separate the solid portion from the liquid; the liquid is then run through equipment to separate water, oil and solids, while the portion destined for fishmeal enters the drying system. The drying stage uses a two-stage process to avoid excessive heating, because too high a temperature affects the fat in the fishmeal and lowers finished product quality.

The separated water is sent to evaporators, where some of the water is removed to obtain a concentrate with about 30% solids content, which is then added back to the drying process. During the visit, the plant said: "Here the raw material is 100% utilized; the water goes to the evaporator plant, and after evaporation and concentration the solids concentration is about 30%, and this concentrate is added to the dryer—that is pure protein."

Fluctuation in raw material composition is one of the main difficulties in operating this plant. Raw material composition varies with supplier, season and fish characteristics, requiring corresponding adjustments to process parameters such as temperature and speed. During the visit, the plant explained that coho salmon (银鲑) has a higher oil content, which changes the plant's yields and requires operational adjustments to keep the process stable; in periods when coho salmon accounts for a higher share, fish oil yield rises and fishmeal yield falls accordingly.

Most of the plant's equipment is automatically controlled from a central control room, monitoring variables such as temperature, steam pressure, screw speed and processing pace, with only a small portion of equipment mainly operated manually. Among the technical personnel taking part in the visit, some have worked in this type of process for more than 30 years, and others took part in the installation and 1997 commissioning of the Panitao plant.

The water carried by the raw material has become a sensitive issue in the commercial relationship between Fiordo Austral and the salmon companies. Part of the water comes from the fish itself, and another part may be added during operations at the processing plant. For Fiordo Austral, removing this water consumes steam and energy, and also requires transporting the volume that must subsequently be disposed of, so the company negotiates receiving conditions with suppliers to reduce moisture. The plant said: "Part of our commercial relationship with them is trying to agree on the level of water the raw material can carry. The less water, the less transport, the less of everything. So this is a very sensitive issue in the relationship with this industry." Steam is an important input for cooking, concentration and drying; the Panitao plant also uses biomass as an energy source and continuously seeks to reduce the consumption needed to remove water from raw material.

Value-added utilization does not stop at fishmeal and fish oil. Another product line shown during the visit is the development of plant nutrition products using components recovered from salmon, including natural biostimulants made from fish protein and nutrients, obtaining amino acids and organic compounds through controlled processes for promoting plant growth and improving soil conditions. The plant also demonstrated a digestion process lasting 120 hours at 43°C, used to release amino acids and generate soil remediation and enhancement products.

The visit coincided with the process of Germany's SARIA Group becoming a new strategic partner of Fiordo Austral through a shareholding. Through its Bioceval business unit, the group agreed to enter with a 36.45% stake, and the transaction is still subject to the corresponding regulatory approvals. SARIA has international experience in the value-added utilization of animal by-products and biological residues, with applications including energy, nutrition, agricultural and pharmaceutical industry products.

Fiordo Austral General Manager Juan Guiresse said: "The complementarity is very clear. We contribute nearly 30 years of knowledge of the Chilean salmon farming industry, and SARIA brings global technical and commercial capabilities. This transaction provides us with new capabilities to take this to a larger scale."