Westman Islands fishing and processing company Vinnslustöðin has commissioned a new HDF filtering facility designed to extract oil and protein from what would otherwise be waste water from production.
The system has been installed in collaboration with local company Iðnver and Huber Technology in Germany.
‘This equipment is designed specifically for industrial processes such as at Vinnslustöðin, where there is a large volume of nutritio-rich outflow from fish processing and fishmeal production,’ said Iðnver’s Pétur Blöndal.
‘The system has two drum filters that remove solid material before extration takes place, and this ensures steady and effective production,’ he said.
The key challenge was to expand from a 140 cubic metre system to 400 cubic metres, and this demanded precision design work, and integration with the existing outflow system and adjustment to adapt to the rate of production.
Pétur Blöndal commented that the future of such systems is not about releasing waste, but about extracting resources.
‘We see clearly that circularity and sustainability in the food and seafood sectors are a key policy. Filtering technology will continue to develop the reclamation of material that can be routed back to production,’ he said.
The outcome of this initiative is that there is capacity to handle all of thec company’s outflow, without any loss. According to Vinnslustöðin technical director Willum Andersen, this fits the company’s sustainability and environmental policies.
‘Our aim is to make the best possible use of raw material with the least possible effect on the environment. This new filtering station is big a step in that direction,’ he said, adding that the oil and protein from the waste water outflow are put through the fishmeal production
‘So we produce both fishmeal and fish oil from material that previously was waste,’ he said.
