Recipient Organization
GRAYSTAR PACIFIC SEAFOOD LTD
1345 W 9TH AVE STE 203
ANCHORAGE,AK 995013236
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This Phase 1 project addresses the research priority of increasing opportunities for employment and income generation in rural Alaskan coastal communities. The problem is low employment and poor economic opportunity in rural coastal Alaskan communities. There arevery few jobs, government support is extensive, and electricity is expensive. The opportunity is to develop a sustainable business, which will serve the rapidly growing nutraceutical market, provide year-round employment in rural Alaska, and offer the possibility of reducing retail electricity costs. The goal of this project is to develop a business to produce and sell Deep Ocean Water (DOW) as a nutraceutical beverage, in one or more coastal Alaska communities. DOW is seawater at obtained ocean depths of 250-1,500 meters. It has these characteristics: low temperature, high purity, and high concentrations (relative to surface seawater and to most mineral waters) of beneficial mineral nutrients, especially magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Its great depth means that it has minimal to no bacteria or phytoplankton (which, near the surface, remove the minerals from solution). DOW is a source of electrolytes that generally provide many health benefits. This is important because deficiencies in macro minerals and micro trace elements can lead to premature aging, immune dysfunction, and susceptibility to cardiovascular related diseases and diabetes. Therefore, we expect our products to be marketable with two distinct, desirable attributes - health and performance.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
The problem is low employment and poor economic opportunity in rural coastal Alaskan communities. There are very few jobs, government support is extensive, and electricity is expensive. The opportunity is to develop a sustainable business, which will serve the rapidly growing nutraceutical market, and provide year-round employment in rural Alaska. The goal of this project is to develop a business to produce and sell Deep Ocean Water (DOW) as a nutraceutical beverage, in one or more coastal Alaska communities. This project will use established Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology in innovative ways, to enhance the economic development of rural Hawaii (at first) and rural Alaska (ultimate goal). RO technology is well-established, most visibly for municipal and maritime drinking water supplies. There are no ready sources of DOW in Alaska, because there are no deep seawater intakes. But the Hawaii Ocean Sciences & Technology Park of the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority offers a ready source of DOW, which supports many small, ocean-related businesses. We will rent indoor work space at HOST Park, install a portable RO system, produce test batches of DOW for human consumption, test the RO membranes from several manufacturers, evaluate production efficiency using cold seawater (NELHA produces at 5ºC) vs the equipment'snominal 25 ºC operating temperature, conduct chemical and organoleptic testing of the various batches, and evaluate possible Alaskan sites for pilot-scale and eventual bulk-scale production.
Project Methods
Efforts --(1) Buy, install, and operate a small RO system at HOST Park, with significant hands-on support from Reverse Osmosis of South Florida.(2) Be sure to include plumbing with which to blend small quantities of sea water (purified but not desalinated) into our RO products.(3) Test RO membranes from several manufacturers.(4) Conduct membrane testing at various temperatures: 5ºC HOST Park input (probably like Alaska's), and 10ºC and 15ºC (the manufacturer's nominal operating temperature is 25ºC), and note how long production takes and how much energy it consumes.(5) Engage an independent laboratory to conduct chemical testing (cations, anions, TDS, turbidity) of -• HOST Park seawater input• Our DOW outputs• Competitors' DOW products(6) Conduct our own organoleptic testing of -• Our DOW outputs• Competitors' DOW products(7) Evaluate possible Alaska sites for DOW production -• Preliminary list (Sitka, Seward, Kodiak, Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Adak)• Compare and contrast DOW production in Hawaii vs how DOW might be produced in AlaskaEvaluation --• Which RO membrane(s) are suitable for cold sea water input• Rate of DOW production with cold seawater vs manufacturers' nominal rates• Energy efficiency of pilot-scale production of selected DOW products• Optimum "recipe": blend of RO water with some seawater, to achieve desired attributes (chemical and organoleptic)• Preliminary identification of probable containers (cans vs bottles)• Preliminary identification of possible marketing channels (wholesale, private label, retail, online, etc)• Possible methods of producing Deep Ocean Minerals and Deep Ocean Sea Salt from Deep Ocean Ocean Water (eg- evaporation)• Criteria for evaluation of possible Alaska sites: proximity to deep water, local infrastructure, cost of doing business (eg- electricity, construction, operation, shipping), logistics to/from Anchorage, etc