PHASE II : RURAL COASTAL ALASKA FISH WASTE CONVERSION

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0218654
• Grant No.: 2009-33610-19895
• Proposal No.: 2009-01113
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2009
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2011
• Grant Year: 2009
• Program Code: [8.6]- Rural & Community Development

Recipient Organization
SCIENTIFIC FISHERY SYSTEMS, INC.
P. O. BOX 242065
ANCHORAGE,AK 99524

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
The Alaskan fishing industry produces over one million metric tons of by-product and waste annually. Rural coastal Alaska communities have been using the grind and dump method for decades. There is an opportunity to expand existing onshore processing in rural coastal communities and provide additional economic value from fish waste and, simultaneously, reducing or eliminating the impact of current fish waste disposal practices on the local community. There are more than 200 fish processing plants in Alaska, however, fish waste processing occurs at only ten of largest shore-based plants that extract fish meal and fish oil for use as aquaculture feed ingredients for fish and shrimp and as livestock and poultry feed ingredients. These waste processing facilities process 400 metric ton (400 MT) of waste per day, or more. The cost for these plants is several million dollars, they require a tremendous volume of fish that is only available at a small number of ports, and they are expensive to operate. In addition, the fish processing plants with waste recovery facilities focus the majority of their processing on Pollock and Cod, with only a fraction of their throughput dedicated to salmon. The majority of the smaller processing plants are dominated by the seasonal salmon processing, which makes the economics of these ventures more difficult. For years there has been a need to develop fish waste processing equipment that is significantly smaller and less expensive than current systems, opening up the opportunity for more than 100 smaller seafood processing plants to extract greater value from their product. Despite many feasibility analyses that have been conducted over the past twenty years, affordable fish waste processing equipment with a small footprint has not been introduced and demonstrated that can serve these smaller rural coastal processors because of a combination of high risk and lack of capital. Recently, the prices for the two primary salmon byproducts, meal and oil, have increased dramatically because the marketplace places a premium on human-grade salmon oil and salmon meal. The demand for Wild Alaskan Salmon meal and oil has changed the economic potential for processing salmon waste at lower volumes at the smaller scale seafood processing plants that serve rural coastal Alaska.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
403	3799	3010	60%
608	3799	3010	40%

Knowledge Area
403 - Waste Disposal, Recycling, and Reuse; 608 - Community Resource Planning and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
3799 - Cultured aquatic animals, general/other;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;

Keywords

fish waste

fish oil

fish meal

rural economic development

alaska

salmon

Goals / Objectives
During Phase I, Scientific Fishery Systems, Inc. (SciFish) developed a plan that is economically viable for production of salmon waste at 25 MT per day, a sixteenth of the capacity of the current fish meal/oil production facilities currently in place in Alaska. The concept of operations focuses on retaining food-grade processing of fish waste, which is not retained with the existing plants, hence limiting their markets to animal feed. The following technical objectives shall be address during Phase II: Install and operate a 25 MT fish meal/oil plant in Cordova Alaska for two consecutive salmon seasons. Demonstrate that the quality of these products substantiates a premium price that justifies the capital investment needed for future systems. Develop an expansion plan that will allow the process developed and demonstrated in Cordova to be applied at other similar size seafood processing plants across Alaska.

Project Methods
SciFish has formulated a set of seven tasks to achieve the Phase II objectives. These tasks include the following: Task 1: Plant Installation The purpose of this task is to install the 25 MT fish meal/oil plant defined during Phase I and make the system operationally ready for operations during the salmon season. Task 2: Plant Operations - Season 1 The purpose of this task is to operate the fish meal/oil plant for an entire salmon season - May 15, 2010 to September 15, 2010. Task 3: Evaluate Plant Performance The purpose of this task is to evaluate the performance of the meal/plant operation during the first season and determine areas where improvements can be made. Task 4: Refine/Modify Plant & Operations The purpose of this task is to identify areas within the existing fish meal/oil plant where further refinements could be made both to the plant and its operations that would result in improvements to the product, efficiencies in the processes, and ultimately increases in the economic feasibility this and future projects. Task 5: Plant Operations - Season 2 The purpose of this task is to operate the fish meal/oil plant for a second entire salmon season - May 15, 2011 to September 15, 2011. Task 6: Expansion Plan The purpose of this task is to begin the process of expanding the number of 25 MT meal/oil plants to other locations across Alaska. Task 7: Reporting The purpose of this task is to report the progress of this project on a regular basis throughout the duration of Phase II.

Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: A facility was identified for the fish oil rendering plant, permits for the use of the facility were put in place, and modifications to the building were made. The fish oil rendering equipment was purchased and installed. Over 1,450,000 lbs of salmon were processed during two summers, resulting in over 142,000 lbs of wild Alaska salmon oil. Analysis of the wild Alaska salmon oil was conducted, demonstrating that the quality of the oil was exceptional and will require only slight refining to remove one heavy metal. Several problems with the initial plant design were identified, documented, and cured, with the second season of processing achieving the 25 MT per day processing requirement. A buyer for the fish oil was identified, all of the product produced during the first summer was sold before the start of the second summer season and the current inventory of salmon oil from the recent summer season has already received verbal orders that would result in a complete sale. A second product was attempted during the second summer season - a frozen minced pet food product. The feasibility of this product was not reached. A pilot project was conducted for new technology that provides compact fish drying using only electricity. The results are still under evaluation. Additional products that can be developed from the viscera, frames, cooked solids and stickwater are currently underway and should be in place for the second summer season. Candidate locations for expansion following the second summer season have been identified and we are in the process of contacting decision makers for these locations. Presentations to the SBIR Program Manager, Dr. Sureshwaran, were conducted in March 2010 and October 2010. PARTICIPANTS: The following individuals worked on this project: Mullins, Richard Soares, William Patrick, James Disque, Lyn Griglione, Eric Yang, Chun Diaz, Dante Fan, Kai Zhao, Guangda Miller, Jerry Gorylchanyi, Iegor Osevskyi, Dmytro Mueller, Sarah Moskalenko, Viktor Grysai, Denys Azhmukhambetov, Amir Bekishev, Yerlan Svistun, Mikalai Sadova, Iuliia Ramanyk, Bogdan Xi, Juhuan Cao, Jing Yuting, Chen Zvaryka, Ivan Gage, Matt Keh, Wei Sheng Miller, Rick Williams, Remington Griglione, Anthony Simpson, James TARGET AUDIENCES: Seafood processors, community leaders, tribal leaders, seafood scientists PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: There were no major modifications to this project.

Impacts
As a result of these outcomes, SciFish will be able to provide coastal Alaskan communities with a feasible alternative to disposing of their fish byproduct in the local waters. This project has developed and demonstrated that the technology exists to provide an affordable means of rendering fish byproduct into useful products including human grade fish oil and frozen mince pet food.

Publications

• Fish waste not, want not: Kenai plant nets use of salmon byproducts, The Redoubt Reporter, April 27, 2011.