CLEANHATCH

Development and implementation of an innovative cleaning technology for marine and freshwater larval hatchery tanks in recirculating aquaculture systems

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The current lack of cost-effective and efficient cleaning technologies in both freshwater and marine larval hatchery tanks in recirculating aquaculture systems is a substantial drawback for both technology-providing and fish farming SMEs in Europe. Bacterial biofilms constantly and quickly develop on all surfaces in the tanks and endanger the production of high quality and quantity fry which is an absolute must for successful aquaculture operations in a growing, highly competitive market. Thus, there is an enormous need to find a sustainable technology for an efficient cleaning of the tank surfaces and the standpipe meshes. Meshes on the standpipe, which prevent the aquatic life from being sucked away from the water flow, need to be continuously replaced due to the formation of biofilms, resulting in high material and labour costs. CLEANHATCH aims to develop and implement a new technology that constantly sweeps the sides and base of the tanks as well as backwashes the meshes whilst injecting ozonated water into the tank directly over the tank surfaces. Compared to the state of the art, the new technology has the advantages of (a) cleaning the tank's sides, base and standpipe's meshes saving considerable man-hours, (b) disinfecting the surfaces and meshes through the focused injection of the ozonated water, (c) reduce the amount of mesh required and focus the mesh to the bottom part of the tank where the water is best extracted from. CLEANHATCH will develop, implement, test and optimise the new technology under pilot and real production conditions, aiming to achieve a marketable product within one year after project termination. The project is centred on complementary technological problems and innovation needs of the three participating SMEs. By providing technology applications that do not presently exist in the markt, the project will bring the participating SMEs to the forefront of the hatchery technology market, strongly improving their competitive position.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

An automated cleaning system intended for use in recirculating aquaculture tanks promises to support the aquaculture sector and make it more viable.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

As the practice of aquaculture grows rapidly in Europe to meet increasing consumer needs for seafood, the industry is moving towards more efficient recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs). These systems, however, do not come without their hazards as small fish and fish larvae become more susceptible to disease when cultivated using recirculation technology.

To overcome this phenomenon it is necessary to improve cleaning and disinfection of hatchery RASs, a process that consumes much time and money. The EU-funded project CLEANHATCH developed a novel solution to remedy such limitations. It conceived the idea of hatchery tanks that clean themselves rather than having to be cleaned manually, thus saving on manpower and costs.

The project team examined how the internal surfaces of the tanks and the standpipe meshes could be cleaned to remove biofilms and residues effectively. It worked on a system to disinfect surfaces and meshes by injecting ozonated water where needed and by reducing the amount of mesh surface area involved.

After testing and development, the team was able to minimise cleaning-related labour costs by an impressive 80 %, resulting in a 32 % increase in the weight of trout larvae. It successfully reduced bacterial counts on tank surfaces to a significant degree and created a safe, easy-to-operate system. The concept is supported also by the adoption of small stainless steel mesh that does not require cleaning and regular replacement, as oppose to nylon meshes with a much larger stand pipe surface area.

So far, the prototype has been successfully tested on sea bream, sea bass, rainbow trout and turbot. More development and testing in the future could help fine-tune the system even further and identify more species that could benefit from CLEANHATCH. The team's results have been disseminated through http://www.cleanhatch.net (the CLEANHATCH website), but also through conferences, presentations and trade fairs, opening up ample opportunities for exploitation.

As existing RASs can for the most part be retrofitted with this new solution, the project team expects keen interest in marketing the system and ensuring rapid uptake of the technology. While a fully marketable product hasn't been realised yet, with some development it is more than likely that one or more project partners will achieve this ambitious objective.

CLEANHATCH systems will contribute to a better quality of life, health, safety and the environment, while helping fish farmers upgrade their production systems and improving the sector's economic viability. Last but not least, Europe will have a more secure food source once this product is commercialised.