Applied Research at the Lethbridge College Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (ACE)

Christina Seidel, the RCA’s Executive Director, recently toured the Lethbridge College Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (ACE) to learn more about their cutting-edge research in sustainable, zero-waste agriculture and food production.

ACE conducts applied research on a variety of aquatic-based topics specifically adapted to northern geographical locations. Their greenhouse operations, biosecure isolation facilities, water recirculation technologies, and water quality testing and molecular lab capabilities provide a solid foundation for a variety of aquatic and aquaponic-based research, including aquaponics as an example of an integrated self-sustainable food production system.

In their operations, they acknowledged the fish waste was only plant nutrients in the wrong form. Within an aquaponics operation, suspended solids must be handled appropriately to ensure the material doesn’t reach the biofilter or plant beds. They set out to study the right conditions under which to efficiently process fish waste and convert it into a concentrated, stable, plant-ready nutrient.

The fish waste from their operations, along with culinary kitchen waste from the college’s food services, was loaded into aerobic bioreactors for approximately four weeks, at which time 70-80% of the waste had mineralized into a plant-ready fertilizer product.

“The bioreactors, together with the aquaponics setup, allows us to recycle 100% of the water from our fish production, while producing a high-value fertilizer for domestic or agricultural use,” says John Derksen, Lethbridge College Instructor and Researcher.

According to John, the current reacted solid waste is being utilized by the crop of 600 cucumber plants growing in Lethbridge College’s 7,000-square-foot greenhouse through their aquaponics, but much more fish waste is being produced than can be used.

Lethbridge College is currently working towards a patent on the process to support a wide variety of animal operations, acknowledging that some large fish operations can produce tonnes of waste per year.

ACE currently sells their fish fertilizer through Granary Road in Calgary, whom they consulted with to create an aquaponics setup on their property. They hope to expand this project to include other waste materials that can help benefit the college, much like the culinary waste produced from their cafeteria.

The Recycling Council of Alberta would like to thank Lethbridge College and John Derksen for sharing their facility and expertise and commitment to sustainable, zero-waste food production in Alberta!