WHISKY HERO

Green machineWhat exactly does the whisky industry, a bowl of dog food and an aquatic photosynthetic eukaryotic organism have in common?

Written by Morag Bootland S cotland is brimming with green innovation, but there are few new businesses that Very good, I hear you cry, but what on earth has this got to do with whisky? In their wisdom, the boffi ns at MiAlgae have realised are quite as green as MiAlgae. that they can feed their algae on co-products

And that’s because MiAlgae are on a mission to from the whisky industry. These liquids include produce some seriously nutritious and seriously the pot ale (or the water left in the wash still bright green algae. after the fi rst distillation), the spent lees (or the The starter point for the company, as liquid left in the spirit still following the second managing director Douglas Martin explains, distillation) and the wash water. was seeing algal blooms proliferating in the ‘These co-products from the whisky industry

North Sea. ‘These blooms are so large that they act as food for our algae, and by feeding it to our can be seen from space and I wanted to know algae they use up all of the nutrients and leave the how you could capture that huge event and water cleaner than when it came to us,’ explained use it for something Douglas. ‘So, at the end valuable that could also help the planet.’ the answer was of the process we are left with clean water amd The answer was to to grow algae in Omega-3-rich algae.’ grow algae in large large stainless These liquids come stainless steel tanks. The algae that MiAlgae steel tanks from a few different distilleries, all of which cultivate at their site in are top secret while

Balfron is incredibly rich in Omega-3s, which MiAlgae begin to commercialise their product. are an essential ingredient in animal feed. So, for now, there’s no way to tell if Fido will

Currently, most of the Omega-3 that reaches be chowing down on Speyside’s fi nest or if he’s the food our pets eat comes from fi sh. Entire more of a Lowland single malt kind of a dog. shoals are pulled from the sea and minced up MiAlgae started up in 2015 and is now to add to pet and animal feed. through its technical development stage, a But here’s the rub. Fish do not produce process that, as with most bio-tech innovations,

Omega-3s, they obtain them from the food that took years. But, the algae is ready to roll and they eat, and that food happens to be algae. with a huge pet and animal feed market ready

So, if you can grow nutrient-rich algae to put for an environmentally-friendly alternative to directly into animal feed, you can cut out the fi sh, the world is their oyster. fi shy middle man and help save the planet. www.mialgae.com

Clockwise from top left: Some of the 18 strong MiAlgae team; founder and MD Douglas Martin; the good, green stuff; Martin from the production team with one of the stainless steel tanks at the Balfron site; the technical development of the product has taken years to get just right.