Acronym MICRORED
Category
Aquaculture
Title Reduction of Microplastic Emission through System optimization of Feed Pellet Conveying Pipelines Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Chandana Ratnayake Coordinator email Chandana.Ratnayake@sintef.no
Coordinator institution
SINTEF - SINTEF (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA - AKVA group (Norway) ,
NA - Hallingplast AS (Norway) ,
NA - Kve-En AS (Norway) ,
NORCE - Norwegian Research Centre (Norway) ,
NA - Oxyvision AS (Norway) ,
NA - Seafood AS (Norway) ,
NA - SINTEF Industry (Norway) ,
NA - SINTEF Ocean (Norway) ,
NA - Skretting AS
(Norway) ,
Start year 2021 End year 2023 Funding (€) € 200,000 Website https://www.fhf.no/prosjekter/prosjektbasen/901658/ Summary The fisheries and aquaculture industry contribute to emissions of microplastics into the sea, which may potentially have negative consequences for the marine environment and living organisms. The release of microplastics from the fish feeding pipes has been recognized as one of the contributing factors to the pollution of the sea water, with implications for seafood safety and potentially human health, lowering the consumer confidence in seafood products.
In larger fish farms, the fish feed is typically transported by means of compressed air from the storage point to several fish cages through a network of transportation pipes that are typically made of plastic, mainly HDPE (high-density polyethylene). The use of unnecessarily high air flow volume rates accelerates the pellets to a high velocity, causing hard impacts with the internal wall of the pipe, especially in bends and curved sections, with directional change of pellet conveying path. Depending on the fish feed properties (hardness, shape, size, surface texture), this can result in potential problems with negative economic and environmental consequences. On the other hand, use of too low air velocity may lead to pipe blockages and pellet breakage due to compressive stress. Optimization of feeding system operating parameters is therefore key for ensuring minimal release of microplastics from the feeding pipes, maximizing the lifetime of the pipeline and for delivering intact, undamaged pellets to the fish.
Main objective:
To optimize the feed pellet conveying systems, technology and costs in fish farms to minimize microplastic emissions and maximize pipeline lifetime and pellet integrity.
Sub-objectives:
A. To evaluate the effect of air velocity and pipeline configuration (bend radius) on pipe wall erosion for selected fish feed qualities.
B. To quantify the amount of micro- and nanoplastic (MNP) fragments from objective A and characterize their physical properties (size, shape).
C. To map the erosion pattern and evaluate the evolution of erosion with application time.
D. To implement the results in a simulation software for a selected industrial site to demonstrate how the feeding system can be optimized.
E. To disseminate the learning from the project and present the methodology for optimization of the feed pellet conveying systems to the fish farming community.
Keywords
Engineering;
Cage aquaculture;
Environmental impact;
Open sea aquaculture;
Fish;
Microplastics;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
Marine Region Map
