Energy efficiency improvement in thawing

Abstract

The thawing process within fish processing is one of the most essential steps in manufacturing. Various processes of thawing can be used where efficiency varies between companies depending on such characteristics as energy consumption, the price of resources, etc. The main aim of the research is to increase the efficiency of thawing processes. Firstly, to analyse various thawing methods and to find the most efficient one by using multi-criteria decision making analysis method. Secondly, analysing data of thawing of existing company to find opportunities for improvements, including the change of existing technology. Results showed that the most suitable method for thawing is the air blast method. Case study showed that current thawing technology is outdated, thus suggested improvement would be to replace the current boiler house with a cogeneration plant. A sensitivity analysis for the cogeneration plant has been performed.