Fishery By-Product Valorization: High-Protein Fishmeal & Crude Fish Oil

Industrial filleting of marine fish generates between 24.5% and 35.0% non-edible processing residues, including bones, fins, viscera, and scales. In the absence of localized rendering facilities, these organic streams create severe disposal liabilities and environmental fouling. This valorization project establishes a closed-loop rendering plant in KIB that utilizes steam cooking, twin-screw pressing, defatting, and flash drying to convert fish offal and seasonal pelagic by-catches into high-protein fishmeal (60–65% crude protein) and crude fish oil. Located in KIB, the plant enjoys natural circular synergies with adjacent seafood processing tenants, eliminates raw material haulage costs, and supplies high-demand feed mills across Timor and Eastern Indonesia.

Products & Business Formats

High-Protein Commercial Fishmeal (60%–65% Crude Protein)

Steam-cooked, defatted, flash-dried, and finely ground marine fishmeal packed in 50 kg multiwall polypropylene bags for commercial animal feed mills.

Crude Marine Fish Oil (Industrial & Feed Grade)

Separated and clarified natural marine fish oil stored in 200-liter drums or 1,000-liter IBC totes for aquaculture feeds and industrial lubricants.

Soluble Fish Protein Concentrate (Liquid Hydrolysate)

Enzymatically digested soluble protein liquid extracted from stickwater, utilized as an ultra-high-digestibility feed attractant for shrimp and piglets.

Marine Calcium Bone Powder

Washed, calcined, and micronized fish bone meal used as a natural organic calcium and phosphorus supplement for poultry and pet food formulations.

Business model

The advantage of this business model lies in very low raw-material costs because inputs come from fish-processing plant residues, while the final product (fishmeal) has direct buyers in the local Kupang animal-feed industry and inter-island markets.

Development stages

1. Stage 1 — Use ready-to-lease buildings at KIB to install a compact fishmeal line (cooker, screw press, dryer & hammer mill) to absorb solid waste from UPI in Kupang.
2. Stage 2 — Establish regular fishmeal supply contracts with feed-production units in Kupang City and Kupang Regency and separate crude fish oil.
3. Stage 3 — Develop a fish-scale/skin washing and drying line meeting collagen raw-material standards and expand plant capacity on KIB HPL land plots.

East Nusa Tenggara’s large livestock population (over 593,000 cattle and extensive swine herds) depends heavily on balanced feed rations. Currently, local feed mixers import expensive fishmeal by ship from Surabaya or South America. Operating inside KIB provides direct captive access to offal from neighboring seafood processors with zero intermediate shipping costs.

Market Demand & Potential Buyers

• Commercial pig, poultry, and ruminant feed manufacturers across Timor, Flores, and Sumba
• Local commercial aquaculture farms and shrimp hatcheries across Eastern Indonesia
• Animal feed conglomerates in Surabaya and East Java seeking domestic high-protein fishmeal
• Bio-fertilizer and organic agricultural input formulators in NTT

Market Evidence & Context

There is currently no modern, industrial-scale fishmeal rendering plant operating in NTT. Most fish filleting offal and small pelagic by-catches are discarded into landfills, sold as fresh chum, or dried crudely on open ground with high fly and bacterial contamination. A closed-loop rendering plant in KIB enjoys a virtual regional monopoly on certified high-protein fishmeal.

Raw feedstock is collected through long-term supply agreements with seafood processing facilities in KIB, PPI Oeba landing docks, and regional fish markets.

Seasonality & Supply Continuity

Feedstock availability peaks during the May–November marine fishing season. In lean months, the plant processes frozen by-catch blocks or transitions to drying shrimp shell residues.

Collection & shipping

Raw offal from KIB seafood plants is transferred within 3–5 minutes via sealed tipper trucks. City offal arrives within 20 minutes in covered leak-proof containers.

Procurement & handling costs

Raw fish offal is acquired at low nominal cost or negative tipping fees. Thermal energy for cooking and drying represents the largest operational cash expense (35%–45% of processing cost).

• Solid Secondary Product Yield in Red Snapper Fillet Processing at PT Matsyaraja Arnawa Stambhapura
• Marine Capture Fisheries Production Dataset for East Nusa Tenggara Province
• Marketing of Handline Tuna and Skipjack Landed at PPI Oeba

Locating in KIB establishes a textbook circular economy cluster: co-located next to raw offal generators, equipped with estate AMDAL zoning, and close to port export gates.

Captive Supply from Neighboring Seafood Processors in KIB

Direct inter-estate transfer of fresh fish frames and offal eliminates long-distance trucking and prevents bacterial spoilage before rendering. Bolok Industrial Park Profile

Estate AMDAL Zoning for Thermal Rendering & Odor Control

Industrial estate zoning legally accommodates rendering facilities equipped with bio-filters and wet scrubbers, avoiding urban residential nuisance complaints. Bolok Industrial Park Profile

Access to Low-Cost Backload Freight to Surabaya (7.9 km to Tenau)

Surplus fishmeal and fish oil can be shipped to Surabaya feed mills in dry containers taking advantage of deeply discounted empty backhaul freight rates. Road Distances from KIB Bolok to Key Port, City, and Airport Hubs

Investors can deploy a compact, continuous dry-rendering package plant (10–30 TPD raw input capacity) designed with closed odor-scrubbing systems.

Business process

1. Raw fish offal receiving in enclosed negative-pressure intake pit, magnetic separation, and heavy-duty pre-crushing
2. Continuous indirect steam cooking (90°C–95°C) to coagulate protein and rupture fat cells
3. Twin-screw mechanical pressing to separate cooked press-cake from liquid press-water (slurry)
4. Centrifugal tricanter separation of liquid phase into crude fish oil and stickwater protein concentrate
5. Flash drying of press-cake in indirect steam disc dryers to achieve moisture content below 10%
6. Hammer milling, antioxidant dosing (BHT/tocopherol), cooling, and bagging into 50 kg multiwall sacks

Initial Capacity & Production Scale

Continuous Steam Rendering Cooker & Disc Dryer

Industrial indirect steam rendering cooker and rotary disc dryer engineered for continuous automatic operation.

Two-Stage Odor Mitigation & Wet Venturi Scrubber System

Negative-pressure building ventilation ducting all process vapors through chemical condensation towers and biological wood-chip bio-filters.

Tricanter High-Speed Centrifugal Separator

Industrial centrifuge to cleanly separate crude fish oil from stickwater and fine solids.

On-Site Modular Wastewater Pre-Treatment

Under KIB’s estate AMDAL framework, tenant installs dissolved air flotation (DAF) and settling basins to pre-treat high-COD washdown effluent before regulated discharge.

Dedicated Production Facilities (Investor Scope)

Enclosed negative-pressure intake bunker, continuous steam cooker, twin-screw press, disc dryer, tricanter centrifuge, venturi condenser/odor bio-filter system, and on-site DAF wastewater pre-treatment skid.

Converting local seafood offal and trash fish into 65% protein fishmeal captures massive margin differentials between raw offal acquisition costs and high-priced finished animal feed ingredients.

• Solid Secondary Product Yield in Red Snapper Fillet Processing at PT Matsyaraja Arnawa Stambhapura
• Local-Raw-Material Based KUB Chicken Feed Processing Technology at P4S Afro Farm Baumata
• Pig Feed Industry Competitiveness: Case Study in Kupang City, East Nusa Tenggara

Primary operational risks include process odor containment, feedstock freshness variability, and boiler fuel cost control.

Severe odor emissions triggering complaints from surrounding estate tenants

Enclose all processing equipment in airtight negative-pressure buildings and route all vapors through multi-stage condensers, chemical scrubbers, and active bio-filters.

Feedstock spoilage during high-temperature transit increasing histamine and TVB-N

Enforce chilled receiving protocols with ice dosing and implement maximum 4-hour processing windows from collection to cooker.

High energy consumption from steam boiler operation

Fuel boilers with cheap local biomass pellets or coconut shell briquettes produced within KIB to lower steam generation costs.

Data sources include Undana fish processing by-product studies, Ministry of Environment PP 22/2021 circular waste regulations, and Indonesian feed mill raw material specifications.

Interested in developing this business at KIB?

Present proposed rendering line capacity (TPD raw input) and detailed odor control design specifications to KIB management to finalize plot selection.

Complete your business supply chain

Seafood Processing & Rapid Freezing (Fillets, Loins & Frozen Whole Fish)

Establish a modern processing and rapid-freezing plant at KIB for demersal whitefish fillets, pelagic steaks, and IQF packs, leveraging NTT’s 5,054–10,000 tonnes/month catch for inter-island and export markets.

View details →

Integrated Commercial Livestock & Aquaculture Feed Manufacturing

Manufacture balanced commercial feeds for swine, cattle, poultry, and aquaculture by consolidating Timor corn, local fishmeal, and limestone with high domestic resource cost advantage.

View details →

Dedicated Fishery Terminal, Cold Chain Staging & Marine Bunkering Hub

Develop a dedicated marine offloading jetty, cold storage consolidation depot, and bunker supply base serving Savu Sea and Timor Sea fishing fleets with direct land connectivity to KIB.

View details →

Biomass Wood Pellet & Agricultural Residue Fuel Processing

Produce high-density biomass wood pellets from fast-growing energy timber (Gamal, Calliandra) and dry crop residues to supply co-firing power plants and regional industrial boilers.

View details →