Denholm Seafoods has engaged Skaginn 3X to supply them with a newly designed, state-of-the-art, multifunctional ValuePump™️. This deal is the result of months of research and development carried out by the two companies.
The new pump design can handle 60 metric tons of pelagic fish per hour. What is truly innovative about this project is the sheer scale of the equipment and the distance that the product is conveyed for further processing. The pump will move the product 200 meters from the docks to Denholm’s facility in Peterhead through a pipe with a 16-inch diameter.
“The design, development and implementation of the 16” ValuePump™️ was certainly a challenge, but the outcome is truly remarkable,” says Ragnar Arnbjörn Gudmundsson, Regional Manager for Skaginn 3X. “We’ve spent months testing the pump, and I’m pleased to report that it has the proven capacity to convey 60 tonnes per hour over a distance of 200 meters, which is exactly what our clients requested. Most importantly, it handles the product gently along the way, ensuring that the quality of the fish is maintained throughout.”
The ValuePump™️ has been in production by Skaginn 3X since 1994 in various iterations, but last year the company began researching and testing a new and improved design intended to work with the capacity required by Denholm.
The pump’s basic function is based on Archimedes’ screw, also known as a screw pump. Primitive screw pumps were used to move low lying water through a cylinder to elevated irrigation ditches.
Based on this fundamental concept, the ValuePump™️ conveys product gently through a closed, low-pressure pipe system. The conveyance is carried out in a liquid medium, which varies depending on application, but may take form of water, fluid ice or an additive solution.
Requiring about six times less energy consumption compared to conventional pumps, theValuePumpTM process creates substantial energy savings for the seafood processor.
“Not only will the ValuePump™️ help save energy, but it will also replace trucks used to transport product from the docks to Denholm’s facility,” Ragnar says, “making this an environmentally sound enhancement, which is very important to our client.”
Slow revolutions rotate the internal pipes, which are filled with the liquid medium and product, flushing the contents towards the outgoing pipe. This enables the system to deliver product to higher elevations without using a propeller. Instead, material is gently conveyed in a closed system without exposure to the outside environment.
Denholm Seafoods processes pelagic fish caught from sustainable fisheries in the North East Atlantic. They produce a wide range of high-quality pelagic fish products, which are then delivered fresh or frozen to their customers in the UK and worldwide.
“We are incredibly excited to start using the ValuePump™️. It will not only accommodate our high- capacity operation,” says Richard Duthie, Denholm's commercial director, “but also create value whilst transporting our product from A to B, as we will be chilling and sanitising the product whilst conveying it to further processing. The ValuePump™️ will also eliminate the use of trucks used to transport from the harbour to coldstore, which is very beneficial.”
