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BluGen Korea signs Norwegian SIFT Group as its RAS designer

Norway-based land-based farming tech provider, SIFT Group AS, is the RAS designer of a BluGen’s South Korea project.

SIFT Group is known for its Super Intensive Farming Technology (SIFT) that uses stacked raceways, even for certain pelagic species, which is made possible by controlled waterflow and advanced water treatment systems that allow for higher biomass densities up to 100-300 kg/m3. For BluGen’s olive flounder, a non-pelagic species, SIFT’s shallow raceways are well-suited for controlled and stable growth conditions, all the while maximizing production.

SIFT pilot system with Atlantic salmon (Photo: SIFT Group AS)

SIFT raceways with turbot (Photo: SIFT Group AS)

This system was developed by SIFT Group in 2016 with continuous scientific and technological developments since its launch, as the system is based on research and development that began in 1988. It is a comprehensive system that optimizes the growth environment, based on Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) as water treatment technology.

SIFT Group’s pilot farm for Atlantic salmon is currently under final development in Tromsø, Norway, supported by Innovation Norway.

“The agreement with BluGen is very important for us,” says Dr. Torbjørn Trondsen, CEO and co-founder of SIFT Group AS. “After many years of research and development, the vertical SIFT design has proven to deliver cost-efficient production factors for both bottom-dwelling and pelagic aquaculture fish species by high utilization of land, with far more fish production per square meter of land, better degassing, and less use of make-up water. The agreement with BluGen is our first international delivery that will be implemented at the same time as we are building our own SIFT farm for salmon in Norway.”

This agreement pertains to Stage One (out of three total stages) of the project, which is on pre-documentation and design planning of SIFT modules for BluGen’s production facility.

While exact figures are to-be-determined as SIFT Group and BluGen work on design, production capacity is estimated to be at least 1,700 MT/yr of harvest-grade olive flounder, in addition to juvenile production.With optimal operations, BluGen may double its originally anticipated production capacity based on previous discussions with other RAS technology providers.

Dr. Woo-Jai Lee (Photo: BlueGen)

“It has been a long discovery process in identifying our farming system and RAS technology partner. We spent a significant amount of time reviewing SIFT both on and off site. Ultimately, we decided that SIFT Group’s technology, design, team, and approach are the best fit and specific to our species and project.We’re very happy to be working with SIFTGroup,” states Dr.Woo-Jai Lee, BluGen founder and CEO.