Biofuel sources are getting a little fishy

If fish lived on land, which country would they live in? Finland.

Jokes aside, Finland is looking at ways to turn fish waste products into fuel. Biofuel. Finland’s Technical Research Centre and a Vietnamese seafood producer recently launched a three-year project to turn fish waste into biodiesel.

It turns out fish waste is a good feedstock for biofuel. Companies and local governments in Canada, Alaska, Honduras and other places have been experimenting with fish-based biodiesel for years. A few commercial enterprises are even using and selling it profitably. And it may come as no surprise to those who remember that before petroleum, whale oil was used for light and heat. So using waste oil for fuel is resourceful since one kilogram of fish waste equals one litre of biodiesel.

Fish waste, if not processed immediately, degrades rapidly and quickly loses its value. Dumped into the sea in high concentrations, the waste can also disrupt marine ecosystems, so finding sustainable uses for it is just plain smart.

Most of the activity in fish biodiesel has been centered in Alaska and Canada, where isolated coastal cities provide fish oil which is the most abundant feedstock for biodiesel. But in a market which consumes 5 million litres of diesel daily, the Vietnamese are quickly seeing the value of casting this particular line.

So if fish keep their money in the river bank, these days, inventive companies are banking their money with fish waste.