The potential of microalgae to contribute to sustainable animal feed production in the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia

Microalgal biomass has good potential as a raw material for animal feed, especially fish, being an alternative source of protein and fatty acids. Adopting microalgae for animal feed is a promising solution for addressing food security challenges. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is planning a sustainable development of 100,000 ha of microalgal biomass production to be used as a raw material for animal feed. KSA is an ideal location for such production due to its abundant sunlight, flat land, CO2 resources, and nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability. This work reviews relevant information and maps industrial waste streams, mainly from thermo-power, desalination, wastewater treatment plants and petroleum refineries that could potentially be used as nutrient sources (C, N and P) in KSA. KSA has substantial potential for large-scale microalgal biomass production using industrial waste streams as nutrient sources. Analysis of the data presented here leads to the prediction that KSA could potentially produce up to 3,168,000 t year‒1 of land-based microalgal biomass and potentially uptake approximately 5,702,000 tons of CO2. This approach not only supports animal feed production but also extends carbon use, so it is not released immediately into the atmosphere, aligning with national sustainability goals.