Pelagia a leading seafood company with a legacy dating back to 1937, specializes in producing fish meal and fish oil, key ingredients in aquaculture feed. The company processes fresh by-products from pelagic consumer plants to create these products, which are primarily sold for use in feed for both fish and animals. Located between Bergen and Ålesund, Norway, the factory processes up to 1,500 tons of raw materials daily, contributing to a significant energy demand. Historically, much of this energy was lost as waste heat, discharged directly into the sea.
To address this challenge, Pelagia has partnered with Aneo to implement an advanced heat pump technology, which enables the recovery and reuse of waste heat. This technology supports Pelagia’s commitment to reducing its environmental footprint by making production more energy-efficient and sustainable. The integration of Aneo’s heat pump system is a key component of Pelagia’s climate initiative, helping the company achieve greener, more efficient operations while maintaining high production standards.
Heat pump solution
The adopted steam-producing heat pump technology fom Aneo electrifies the cooking process at the factory and helps to reduce energy consumption during the cooking of fish oil by about 70 percent (Figure 1). The excess heat for the heat pump is provided by the dryer.
Figure 1: Sketch of the heat pump solution at Pelagia for fishmeal process with heat recycling and upgrading
The basic concept can be summarized under the 3 following points:
- recovery of latent energy from the exhaust from the steam dryer (first heat sources)
- production of process steam by heat pump from return condensate (second heat source)
- supply of process steam to the “cooker” process
Benefits
The steam heat pumps system produces seven tons of steam per hour, has a capacity of 4,4 MW and recycles two waste heat sources, leading to an efficiency gain higher than 70%.
Key facts
| Dryer type | Steam dryer (paddle) |
| Drying product(s) | Powder, sludge |
| Drying medium | Steam |
| Operation | Continuous |
| Product conveying | Paddle |
| Heating medium temperature | N.A. |
| Heat sources | Boiler steam |
| Heat pump capacity | 4.4 MW |
| Flow temperature heat pump | 143 °C (steam condensation temp.) |
| Refrigerant | R 718 (water) |
| Drying time | 1-2 hours |
| Start of operation | 2024 |
| Capacity | 7000 kg/h water evaporation |
| Dryer Dimensions | 4*8 length (estimation) |
| Outlet condition drying medium | 85-95°C, 90-98% relative humidity |
| Direct heat recovery | Yes |
| Heat source for heat pump | Exhaust from the dryer |
| Challenges | retrofit into an existing plant, integration and parallel operation with boiler system |
| Tracked parameters | Temperatures, COPs, specific energy consumption, specific air consumption, relative humidity We have a dataset of 500 + measuring points to follow drying as well as heat pump operation |
More information
This information was extracted by Aneo. More information is provided here.