Geelen Counterflow starts up first electric dryer for Cargill-Ewos in Norway

Geelen Counterflow has installed its first Electric Counterflow Dryer at the Cargill-Ewos aquafeed plant in Bergneset, just above the polar circle in Norway. Energy consumption for drying is reduced by 75 percent (15000 MWh per year) and CO2 emissions from drying (previously 3000 tons per year) are eliminated because gas burners have been replaced by electric heat pumps running on renewable electricity. 

Image credit: Cargill

This is the first electric dryer to start up following eight years of brainstorming, design, engineering and pilot testing. This dryer in Norway also is the biggest counterflow dryer in the world, with 15 drying decks. Two more Electric Counterflow Dryers will start up in South Korea and China in the next few months. 

Early April the heat recovery system and heat pumps were successfully commissioned so the gas burners could be turned off, making Cargill-Ewos Bergneset the first zero emission feed factory in the world. The gas burners stay in place to provide redundancy. 

The four high temperature heat pumps were manufactured by Combitherm from Germany, using a new design of screw compressor from Bitzer, Germany. The working fluid is non-flammable, with an Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) of zero and an ultra-low Global Warming Potential (GWP) of one. 

Monica Hagen, Regional Operations Manager Cargill North Sea says, 'Let me express how satisfied we are with the electric dryer and heat pump technology you have installed at Bergneset. It has been very important for Cargill to have a highly competent partner like Geelen in this project who has come with invaluable expertise and input. It is great that we also appear to be the first and biggest, at the same time as we have reduced both energy usage and CO2 emission. I would like to thank Geelen for their high commitment throughout the long project period.' 

Jan Helge Forde, Capital Excellence Lead, Cargill Aqua Nutrition adds, 'This project was delivered on time and with better performance than expected. Due to the good teamwork from the suppliers and the project organisation we have now been running the Geelen Counterflow dryer on electricity since early April. All gas burners have been switched off. The energy recovery system and the heat pumps allow us to reduce energy consumption by 75 percent and to eliminate all emissions of CO2 and NOx. We will be able to reduce CO2 emissions per year by 3000 metric tons.' 

Sander Geelen, CEO of Geelen Counterflow says, 'Heat recovery and high temperature heat pumps are now a proven alternative to gas burners for drying of extruded feed or food. Following the first month of monitoring, we can now say that the system performs according to our calculations with a COP (Coefficient Of Performance) of approximately four. This means that only 1kWh of electricity is needed in the heat pumps to supply 4kWh of heat to the dryer. The other 3kWh are recovered from the warm wet air exiting the dryer, so 75 percent of energy is saved compared to drying with gas. At the same time, water is recovered, odor emissions are reduced and thanks to renewable electricity all emissions of both CO2 and NOx have been eliminated.' 

For more information visit the Geelen Counterflow website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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RaboResearch: World seafood map reveals soaring demand in global markets

Rabobank's recently published 2021 World Seafood Map shows that global seafood trade rebounded strongly in 2021, driven by growing demand for high-value seafood in the US, the EU, and China.

Image credit: Cooking etc. on Flickr
(CC BY 2.0)

This rising demand for fishery and aquaculture products has positioned seafood as the most traded animal protein, with an estimated trade value of USD 164 billion in 2021 and a 2.44 percent CAGR (2011-2021). Nearly half of that trade flowed to the EU, the US, and China, whose combined imports in 2021 surpassed USD 80 billion.

In 2021, seafood trade was roughly 3.6 times the size of beef trade (the second most traded animal protein), five times the size of global pork trade, and eight times the size of poultry trade, signifying the importance of trade for the seafood sector. With over 55 trade flows each valued over USD 400 million a year and an additional 19 trade flows valued between USD 200 million and USD 400 million each, seafood isn't only an important source of protein for food security, it's an important source of income in many economies.

'Developing countries play a major role in seafood exports, accounting for seven of the top 10 exporters, and developed countries are increasingly reliant on developing nations for imports of high-value species, especially shrimp from India and Ecuador and salmonids from Chile,' says Novel Sharma, Seafood Analyst at Rabobank.

High-value Species Will Drive Seafood Trade Growth
Since 2013, the winners of the global seafood trade have been high-value species such as shrimp and salmonids, and the pandemic strengthened this trend. 'During the pandemic, we saw higher-value proteins such as beef, shrimp, and salmonids outperform other proteins, with year-on-year growth in trade value of 16%, 17%, and 20%, respectively,' says Gorjan Nikolik, Senior Seafood Analyst at Rabobank.

'We are also seeing unprecedented high prices for many seafood species due to challenges in international trade such as rising freight and energy costs and continued lockdowns in China. However, recent data suggests the impact on seafood demand may become material, especially if a recessionary environment develops in the second half of 2022 or 2023. This could affect seafood market prices and the value of trade flows.'

In the coming years, the authors expect sustainability and demand for healthful and premium species to continue driving trade volumes of high-value seafood. Exporters such as India and Ecuador are well positioned to capitalise on emerging trends and close the gap in the exporter rankings.

For more information about Rabobank visit the website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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Highlights in report from Blue Star Foods reflect expansion in RAS operations

Blue Star Foods, a seafood company that prides itself on its sustainability with a focus on recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), has released a report on its first quarter of 2022 ending 31 March, 2022.

Highlights mentioned in the report included the company's acquisition of Gault, a RAS company with technology focused on harvesting Atlantic Blue Crab during off-season and its operations in soft-shell crab division in South Carolina.

"We made tremendous progress in the first quarter of 2022," says John Keeler, Chairman and CEO Blue Star. "Returning to pre-Covid 19 pandemic levels and further expansion in RSA with our Gault Seafood asset acquisition."

Blue Star Foods acquired certain assets of Gault Seafood in December of last year, which provided the company with access to Gault's technology designed for harvesting Atlantic Blue Carb during its off-season. The technology in question enables modification of the molting cycle of Atlantic Blue Crab, which means it can be harvested outside of the March to September window and enables the company to meet consumer demands in the North American market.

Atlantic Blue Crab

"We are executing on plan by shifting toward indoor fish farming utilizing new innovative technologies coupled with our sustainable resource management model," Keeler adds. "We believe macro seafood trends are in our favor with seafood demand forecasted to greatly outweigh supply over the next few decades and a movement for environmental safety to combat overfishing, ocean pollution and microplastics. Our land-based RAS model and diversification of marine protein species is a major differentiator for us."

Blue Star Foods' operations in its soft-shell crab RAS division began in February of this year, following on from its acquisition of Gault. Operations are focused on using newly acquired technology to harvest the Atlantic Blue Crab during off-season, which Frank Lubkin, President of Coastal Pride, said had a "pretty narrow harvest window."

"What we are aiming to do is apply the unique technology acquired from Gault and start scaling up production in a pretty significant way in Beaufort, South Carolina," he explains.

The company hopes to be delivering off-season soft-shell crab product to consumers beginning of August this year, while they search for a property site to upscale production.

It concluded in the report that it had made a profit of US$1.8 million dollars, up from US$1.2 million on 31 December, 2021.

For more information on Blue Star Foods visit their website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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