Saving money by going green
Kilkerrin Salmon situated in County Galway is one of the largest processors of fresh-farmed salmon in Ireland. The company processes about 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes of fresh salmon each year. The salmon are harvested from the clean waters of west coast of Ireland and brought to the factory for processing before being despatched across Europe by refrigerated transport.
Unsurprisingly, a plant such as this produces significant amounts of waste, not just soft offal but also fish parts and a small number of rejected whole fish. This waste, with a dry solids content of between 5-10%, is chopped up, dosed with formic acid and taken away from site for use as a fertiliser.
The starting situation
In the past the soft offal was collected using a vacuum system and deposited into one tonne plastic skips. When the skip was full it was transported by forklift and tipped into the reception hopper of an ensiling unit. The waste whole fish and waste fish parts were similarly brought to the ensiling unit, an auger unit which forced the waste through a cutterhead assembly. The chopped up waste was then pumped to a large storage tank fitted with an agitator where it was dosed with formic acid to stop the waste from developing a strong smell. The old system required constant manning, a lot of mechanical handling, and spillage of waste in the yard was a recurrent problem.
The solution
The company addressed these problems by installing a BTM range pump underneath the vacuum units, with a capacity of 4 to 8m³/hr, feeding into a seepex universal macerator. A seepex BTM pump was chosen as this pump has an open hopper complete with auger feed screw to progress the non-flowable product into a set of integral cutting knives. These are used to reduce the fish waste particle size prior to entering the pump where the coarsely chopped fish waste is pumped through a seepex universal macerator where it is cut to final size, dosed with formic acid and on into the storage tank. The pump is controlled by level probes and operates automatically as required.
The benefit
For Kilkerrin Salmon it has meant an enviable double. Not only have some of their operating costs been halved, but the elimination of offensive spillages and gentler cleaning processes has brought environmental gains to this beautiful part of Ireland.
