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British Sugar has submitted a planning application which could pave the way for the world’s first commercially viable production of algae-based animal feed ingredients in West Norfolk.

The proposal is to set up a pilot plant at the Wissington site to produce protein-packed spirulina.

In the longer term, also at Wissington, the plan is for a commercially-sized plant producing 20,000 tons of spirulina from some of the CO2 emissions from the sugar production process.

The application, which has gone to West Norfolk Council, calls for permission to set up a temporary pilot plant which would operate for 18 months to two years to understand if full-scale commercialisation is feasible.

It would use exhaust gas from the boiler house exhaust stack to produce spirulina powder suitable for animal feed or human food. There will be a several bioreactors, a separator, a centrifuge and also a spray dryer housed in the building. There will also be a small packaging plant on site.

At the end of last year, British Sugar stated “we want to make the most of all the outputs from the sugar production process so we can both reduce waste and our impact on the environment".

“Working with our sister business, AB Agri’s responsible proteins division Livalta and their partner Pond Technology Holdings, we are intending to install the world’s first commercially viable production of algae-based animal feed ingredients from CO2 emissions."

The statement explained: “Algae is increasingly becoming a game-changing animal feed ingredient, but until now the technology to produce it at the scale, quantity and cost required to be affordable for this purpose has proved a challenge.

“The first product will be spirulina, combining 60% protein with Omega 6 and essential vitamins and minerals.

"British Sugar, our circular economy approach leads to only 200g of waste for every tonne of sugar produced, and these new plans will help us to continue doing all we can to reduce our impact on the environment.”