Norway based Stranda Prolog and Canadian Sunwell Technologies have launched a new concept in fresh fish chilling that combines a HeliX tank and the DeepChill process, SalmonBusiness learned at the Brussels Seafood Expo this week.
The HeliX DeepChiller is suitable for use on vessels and in land-based processing plants. Rapid chilling of the fish is understood to preserve quality, maintain a longer shelf life, greater yield and a higher price in the market place.
DeepChill is comprised of millions of micro crystals suspended in a solution to form an ice slurry. The crystals could vary between 0.25 and 0.5 millimeters for maximum heat transfer area among all types of ice for a given weight. DeepChill surrounds the entire surface area of the fish to cool more quickly.
“We’re excited to work with Stranda Prolog, an outstanding company in the fish processing industry. Stranda has designed HeliX tanks, a truly top of the line product that is available today in the market,” says Vladimir Goldstein, CEO of Sunwell Technologies.
Original equipment
Kristiansund-, Norway based Stranda Prolog is a major marine equipment maker that saw EUR 12.4 million in turnover in 2016. Toronto-based Sunwell invented the DeepChill ice slurry technology in 1976 and has also worked to apply it to wheeled transport.
The chilling is driven by the melting of tiny ice crystals, so the temperature in the tank will never go below the freezing point of seawater. DeepChill has a built-in “thermostat” that ensures the fish is chilled, not frozen. The process is easier to control then conventional RSW-systems using brine, and there is no risk of ice forming in the heat exchangers or of the fish being frozen solid if it is kept too long in the tank.
Chilled right
The HeliX tank is designed to give operators full control of retention time, as it follows the first in, first out-principle, ensuring that each fish gets exactly the right amount of chilling.
“The combination of our HeliX tank and DeepChill enables us to offer safer, faster and deeper chilling. Sunwell Technologies’ knowledge of how ice crystals form in seawater and how to use the resulting slurry to chill fish make them an ideal partner for us”, says Klaus Hoseth, CEO of Stranda Prolog.
Sunwell is the leading global provider of advanced food preservation and cooling technology to industry leaders in over 40 countries worldwide. High-end seafood harvesters and processors use DeepChill technology to achieve results unattainable with conventional ice.
Stranda Prolog has been developing and innovating technology solutions for the fishing industry since 1946. Today, the company has customers in more than 15 countries, including some of the biggest fish farming companies in the world.
