Key information

Title
STABILIZING STICKWATER DERIVING FROM CREATURES LIVING IN A BODY OF WATER
Application number
20211047
Case type
National
Status
02.05.2023 Patent meddelt (B1)
Filed
01.09.2021
Effective date
01.09.2021
Publicly available
02.03.2023
Next annual fee due
30.09.2027
Applicant
Kitin Antarktis AS (NO)
Owner
KRILL INVEST AS (NO)
Inventor
Rune Idar Frostad (NO) et al.
Agent
BRYN AARFLOT AS (NO)
Granted
02.05.2023
Patent number
347050
Expiry date
01.09.2041

Abstract and drawing

Disclaimer: This text has been machine-scanned and may contain errors – please refer to "Publications" for legally binding content.
Process for stabilizing stickwater from creatures living in a body of water, a liquid part of said creatures, and said stickwater is prepared for storage comprise of the following steps; to provide said creatures onboard a fishing 5 vessel, to seperate stickwater from said said creatures, to seperate solids from said stickwater to obtain a liquid phase, to remove excess water from said liquid phase to a obtain liquid phase concentrate and to prepare said liquid phase concentrate for storage in a freezer.

Publications

B1A1
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Documents

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Date
 Date Doc. No. Process Case number In/Out Journal description To/from
 28.06.2024 02-01 Overdragelse av søknad/rettighet 2024/09882 UT GH Forespørsel Kitin Antarktis AS
 25.06.2024 01-01 Overdragelse av søknad/rettighet 2024/09882 INN Generell henvendelse Kitin Antarktis AS
 01.08.2023 15-01 Saksbehandling 20211047(347050) UT PT Varsel om betaling av første årsavgift (3317) (PT20211047) BRYN AARFLOT AS
 08.05.2023 14-01 Saksbehandling 20211047(347050) UT PT Registreringsbrev nasjonal patent (15) (PT20211047)
07.03.2023 13-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) BRYN AARFLOT AS
 16.11.2022 12-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 UT Henlegg meddelelse PROTECTOR IP AS
 09.09.2022 11-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 UT PT Meddelelse om patent PROTECTOR IP AS
 05.09.2022 10-04 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00-trykningsklart dokument PROTECTOR IP AS
 05.09.2022 10-03 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00-Styrebrev PROTECTOR IP AS
 05.09.2022 10-02 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00-Norsk oversettelse av krav PROTECTOR IP AS
 05.09.2022 10-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) PROTECTOR IP AS
 19.08.2022 09-02 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN PDF_502842744 PROTECTOR IP AS
 19.08.2022 09-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) PROTECTOR IP AS
 18.08.2022 08-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 UT Realitet patent PROTECTOR IP AS
 17.08.2022 07-02 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 besvarelse PROTECTOR IP AS
 17.08.2022 07-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) PROTECTOR IP AS
 03.08.2022 06-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 UT 20211047_1601380_PT 08 PROTECTOR IP AS
 03.08.2022 05-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN Epost fra søker
05.05.2022 04-05 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00_Besvarelse_til_NIPO PROTECTOR IP AS
 05.05.2022 04-04 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 Nytt kravsett UTEN anmerkninger PROTECTOR IP AS
 05.05.2022 04-03 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 Nytt kravsett med anmerkninger PROTECTOR IP AS
 05.05.2022 04-02 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 NutriControl Laboratory Report PROTECTOR IP AS
 05.05.2022 04-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN Korrespondanse (Hovedbrev inn) PROTECTOR IP AS
 30.03.2022 03-02 Saksbehandling 20211047 UT PT report 04:33:03
30.03.2022 03-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 UT Realitet patent PROTECTOR IP AS
 03.09.2021 02-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 UT Infobrev til oppfinner PROTECTOR IP AS
 01.09.2021 01-07 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 Sammendrag PROTECTOR IP AS
 01.09.2021 01-06 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 Krav PROTECTOR IP AS
 01.09.2021 01-05 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 Generalfullmakt Kitin Antarktis AS PROTECTOR IP AS
 01.09.2021 01-04 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 erklæring PROTECTOR IP AS
 01.09.2021 01-03 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 Beskrivelse PROTECTOR IP AS
 01.09.2021 01-02 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN P6463NO00 tegning (1 blad) PROTECTOR IP AS
 01.09.2021 01-01 Saksbehandling 20211047 INN Søknadsskjema Patent PROTECTOR IP AS

Description, claims and drawings

Disclaimer: This text has been machine-scanned and may contain errors – please refer to "Publications" for legally binding content. Description
Technical FieldThe present invention regards the handling of creatures living in a body of water, such as saltwater or freshwater. In particular, the present invention regards the processing of fish and crustaceans. More particularly, the present invention regards stabilizing stickwater deriving from onboard handling and preservation of saltwater fish and crustaceans.Background ArtAlthough the method of the present invention may be used to treat stickwater deriving from a wide variety of species living in a body of water, such as saltwater or freshwater, the invention will be described primarily using krill fishing as an example.Commercial fishing of krill, a small shrimp-like pelagic crustacean swimming in large swarms, is a relative new enterprise in the history of fishing, wherein harvesting large quantities of krill began somewhat recently in the early 1970s. Krill is considered to have one of the largest biomasses of wild multicellular organisms on Earth, of which Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a krill subspecies, is currently estimated to have a biomass of approximately 379 million metric tons.The nutritional composition of krill can comprise up to 60% proteins and up to 25% lipids. The shells of this crustacean primarily consist of chitin, which can be approximately 2% of the krill’s dry weight. The said nutritional composition of krill is therefore one of the main factors for the crustacean’s popularity as feed for both human- and animal consumption and other applications.However, current harvesting and processing methods are arguably not the most efficient in making use of most of the caught krill. A part of the krill that have not been given much attention to in krill fishing is stickwater, a protein rich liquid, which may exude from the said crustacean during harvesting and processing. However, stickwater does not only derive from krill, but from most creatures like other crustaceans and fish.In the case of krill, stickwater exudes from the krill if enough pressure is applied on the krill, such as during onboarding a krill catch’s own dead weight may crush the krill in the bottom of the net or storage compartment, pushing the stickwater liquid out of the crushed krill. The stickwater accumulates on deck or in said compartment, and is being mostly left unused and rinsed away in preparation for receiving the next krill batch.A lion’s share of krill-related inventions does not give much attention to stickwater, which is often disregarded as a byproduct not receiving much importance for preservation, but is generally disposed of as waste. As a result, the prior art is mainly concerning the harvesting and processing of the krill itself. CN107801764A and CN103503970A are Chinese patents concerning preservation methods of krill that includes providing additives into the krill meat prior freezing. The krill is washed prior to providing the additives, thus washing away the stickwater. CN111480684A is a method that comprise rinsing krill and freezing krill in a block of sea water, wherein the individual krill are separated from each other. Another method, CN105454403B, grinds up raw krill to form a krill mass, whereupon the krill mass is provided with water and additives prior to dehydration of the said mass, before providing further additives and the freezing with the intention to reduce the fluoride content in the krill mass.EP1015 319B1 is a preservation method for animal protein, wherein stickwater from both fish and crustaceans are explicitly mentioned. In this process stickwater is accumulated and undergoes a heat treatment by pasteurization and sterilization process in preparation for storage.WO2021/156407A1 describes a process for treatment of krill to produce oil. The krill is harvested, heated, boiled an separated stickwater and solid phase and stickwater is separated in a decanter or separated as solid phase, stickwater and oil in a trichanter. Contrary to the method according to present invention, the process is performed under heated conditions.US 3586515A relates to a method for the production of fish meal and fish oil. Also this method uses heating to produce the wanted products.NO 151269B relates to a method for producing fish meal by heating a fish mixture and separate oil from the heated fish mixture by means of a centrifuge. However, it is coveted to describe a technical and inventive solution in extracting and stabilizing stickwater in order to preserve an optimal freshness of said stickwater.Summary of InventionIt is an object of the present invention to provide a method and a system for the efficient extraction and preservation of stickwater from creatures living in a body of water, more specifically the stabilizing of the protein rich stickwater deriving from fish and crustaceans for storage.The object of the present invention is achieved liquid part of said creatures, wherein said stickwater is prepared for storage comprise of the following steps;- providing said creatures onboard a fishing vessel;- separating stickwater from said creatures using by centrifugation; - separating solids from said stickwater to obtain a liquid phase;- removing excess water from said liquid phase to a obtain liquid phase concentrate using an ultra-filtration device;wherein the temperature of said creatures, said liquid phase and liquid phase concentrate is kept below 50 degrees Celsius, and preferably below 20 degrees Celsius;- preparing said liquid phase concentrate for storage in a freezer.Preferably, said creatures are saltwater fish.Preferably, said method comprises providing saltwater fish onboard the fishing vessel further comprising fragmenting said fish onboard.According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the creatures are saltwater crustaceans.More preferred, the saltwater crustaceans are saltwater krill.According to a preferred embodiment, providing said creatures onboard the fishing vessel preferably comprise providing whole saltwater krill.Said separation of stickwater from said creatures preferably comprise using a solid bowl centrifuge, and preferably said solid bowl centrifuge is a decanter centrifuge. Separation of solids from said stickwater to obtain a liquid phase preferably comprise using a disc separator to obtain a liquid phase from stickwater.The processing time from prepared saltwater creatures to placing the liquid phase concentrate in the freezer hold is preferably within the range of 10 min to 60 minutes, and more preferred within the range of 10 to 30 minutes.The step of preparing the liquid phase concentrate for storage preferably comprises the following steps;- transferring said liquid phase concentrate with a third feed pump from the third buffer tank to a packaging device for portioning and obtaining packages of said liquid phase concentrate;- freezing said packages of liquid phase concentrate in a freezer for obtaining a frozen state of said liquid phase concentrate packages;- storing packages of frozen liquid phase concentrate in a freezer hold.Brief Description of DrawingsCertain features and functions of the present invention will be described with reference to the following figures in which not every component may be labeled for the sake of clarity, in which:Figure 1 illustrates a process flow diagram showing the process from raw creatures to stabilized stickwater in freezer hold.Detailed Description of the InventionFigure 1 shows a diagram which illustrates an embodiment of the pertinent parts of the process flow necessary for stabilizing protein rich stickwater from creatures living in a body of water, such as saltwater or freshwater, said creatures comprising fish and crustaceans living in the pelagic and/or demersal zone in saltwater or freshwater, such as ocean or lakes.The process of the invention will be carried out on board a fishing vessel. The associated equipment is in general standard equipment that is already provided on board a fishing vessel that processes the catch before freezing. However, some modifications to the equipment may be necessary depending on the existing configuration.Prepared creatures, in the form of mechanically fragmented fish or appropriately sized crustaceans where fragmentation is not required, such as whole raw krill, is provided by a feed system 1 into at least one a solid bowl centrifuge 2, preferably a decanter centrifuge 2, a known separator device, for instance provided by GEA (Decanter Centrifuge | Centrifuges & Separation Equipment (gea.com)) or Flottweg SE (https://www.flottweg.com/product-lines/decanter/ per 20.08.2021).The decanter centrifuge 2 applies centrifugal force on the prepared creatures to separate it into two phases; solids, comprising of the creature’s scales, bones, shell and meat, and the creature’s fluids, also known as stickwater - a protein rich liquid, wherein the latter is accumulated in at least one first buffer tank 3. Whereas the former, the solids, continue along a separate path for further processing, such as freezing and palletizing, and storage (not shown). The separation of the solids from the stickwater is an essential part early on in the process, which is done in order to avoid contaminating the stickwater with fluorides deriving from the solids. More specifically, in the case of crustaceans, fluorides that may derive for instance from krill shells which comprise of chitin, or at the very least maintain the fluorides deriving from chitin from crustaceans contaminating the stickwater at a negligible amount.An alternative to the decanter centrifuge 2 is to replace it with a solid bowl centrifuge that provides at least three phases, such as a tricanter centrifuge which applies the same technical principles as with the decanter 2.Conventionally, a tricanter sentrifuge would, instead providing two phases; a solid and a liquid; provide three phases; a solid, a low-viscosity liquid and a high-viscosity liquid. However, such a three-phase separation will usually require that the feed material, the prepared creatures, is heated before going through the centrifuge. When the feed material is as cold as prescribed in the present invention, the third phase, the liquid with a lower viscosity, will be of a very small amount, hence the two liquid phases are mixed together as a single liquid and continues its path to a separator 5 as with the embodiment using a decanter centrifuge 2. The point here is that if a tricanter centrifuge is already present in the facility on board the boat, this can be used much the same way as a decanter centrifuge.At this stage of the of process the stickwater contains impurities, small and drifting particles of fish or crustaceans, that could be of a size that may obstruct filtration devices 8 for further refinement of the stickwater. In order to achieve a stickwater that is prepared for said filtration devices 8, said particles are removed from the stickwater through a disc separator 5, a known technology, e.g., in the dairy industry as exemplified by a disc separator from GEA (https://www.gea.com/en/products/centrifuges-separation/centrifugalseparator/clarifier/clarifiers-milk-whey-calcium-phosphate.jsp per 20.08.2021). Achieving a purified stickwater, or liquid phase, is first achieved wherein the stickwater is provided by a first feed pump 4, directing said stickwater from the first buffer tank 3 for further processing into said at least one disc separator 5, applying per se known disc separation principles to extract two phases from the stickwater; solid phase, consisting of fish or crustacean particles, and said liquid phase.An alternative to the disc separator 5 for removing the undesired particles from the liquid phase is to use a roto-sieve drum screen, a known technology, in essence a rotating perforated drum wherein the liquid passes through the perforations and particles larger than the perforations are left in the drum.Another alternative to the disc separator 5 is to use a compact sieve or vibrating screener, a known technology, which is a circular vibrating sieving device wherein the solid particles are pushed towards the edges of the sieve and the liquid phase gathers and passes through the sieve in the center of the sieve. The liquid phase, which also contains high levels of protein, is then accumulated in at least one second buffer tank 6, whereas the other phase, the solids, continue a separate path for further processing, such as thermoforming, freezing and palletizing, and storage (not shown).A second feed pump 7 directs the liquid phase from the second buffer tank 6 towards at least one ultra-filtration device 8, applying known membrane filtration technology, which is arranged to further refine the liquid phase into an liquid phase concentrate which is accumulated in at least one third buffer tank 9. Excess liquids from the ultra-filtration device 8, liquids that are not a liquid phase concentrate which primarily comprise of saline water, is further disposed of (not shown).A third feed pump 10 directs the liquid phase concentrate from the third buffer tank 9 for portioning and packaging, wherein the liquid phase concentrate is stored in air-tight packaging material, such as polymer based materials, where the air has also been substantially removed, suitable to be placed in a freezer 12 to achieve a stabilized state and a freezer hold 14 for storage. A preferred manner for portioning and packaging is to use a thermoformer 11, a known technology.The prepared creatures, stickwater, liquid phase and liquid phase concentrate maintains a specified processing temperature prior on being transferred into a freezer 12, the specified processing temperature does not go higher than 50 degrees Celsius, preferably not higher than 20 degrees, and more preferably as cold as possible, with the intention to maintain optimal freshness of the final product when it achieves its stabilized state, the frozen liquid phase concentrate. Such specified temperature is essential in order to prevent autolysis, decomposing and spoilage, of the creatures and its stickwater which occurs at higher temperatures. It has been found that around 50 degrees Celsius these processes will accelerate.Solid bowl centrifuges 2, separators 5, ultra-filtration devices 8 and buffer tanks 3, 6, 9 can also be modified to include indirect cooling, consisting cooling by seawater, in order to maintain specified temperature of the creatures, stickwater, liquid phase and liquid phase concentrate located within said equipment.The processing time for the aforementioned stabilizing process, from the saltwater creatures is brought on board the vessel to placing the liquid phase concentrate in the freezer hold 14, is within the range of 10 min to 60 min, preferably within the range of 10 to 30 min. It is essential to maintain a short processing time to reduce the likelihood of fluoride contamination and autolysis in occurring in the saltwater creatures and stickwater. To process bycatch according to the present invention, the bycatch may be grinded before it is fed to the first separation stage.
Claims
Patent claims1. A method for stabilizing stickwater from creatures living in a body of water, a liquid part of said creatures, wherein said stickwater is prepared for storage comprise of the following steps;characterized by;- providing said creatures onboard a fishing vessel;- separating stickwater from said creatures using by centrifugation;- separating solids from said stickwater to obtain a liquid phase;- removing excess water from said liquid phase to a obtain liquid phase concentrate using an ultra-filtration device (8);wherein the temperature of said creatures, said liquid phase and liquid phase concentrate is kept below 50 degrees Celsius, and preferably below 20 degrees Celsius;- preparing said liquid phase concentrate for storage in a freezer.2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said creatures are saltwater fish.3. Method according to claim 1 and 2, providing saltwater fish onboard the fishing vessel further comprising fragmenting said fish onboard.4. Method according to claim 1, wherein the creatures are saltwater crustaceans.5. Method according to claim 1 and 4, wherein said saltwater crustaceans are saltwater krill.6. Method according to claim 5, wherein providing said creatures onboard the fishing vessel comprise of providing whole saltwater krill.7. Method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said separation of stickwater from said creatures comprise using a solid bowl centrifuge (2).8. Method according to claim 7, wherein said solid bowl centrifuge (2) is a decanter centrifuge (2).9. Method according to any of the previous claims, wherein separating solids from said stickwater to obtain a liquid phase comprise using a disc separator (5) to obtain a liquid phase from stickwater.10. Method according any of the previous claims, wherein the processing time from prepared saltwater creatures to placing the liquid phase concentrate in the freezer hold (14) is within the range of 10 min to 60 minutes, preferably within the range of 10 to 30 minutes.11. Method according any of the previous claims, wherein preparing the liquid phase concentrate for storage comprises the following steps;- transferring said liquid phase concentrate with a third feed pump (10) from the third buffer tank (9) to a packaging device (11) for portioning and obtaining packages of said liquid phase concentrate;- freezing said packages of liquid phase concentrate in a freezer (13) for obtaining a frozen state of said liquid phase concentrate packages;- storing packages of frozen liquid phase concentrate in a freezer hold (14).Patentkrav1. En fremgangsmåte for stabilisering av limvann fra skapninger som lever i et vannlegeme, en flytende del av nevnte skapninger, hvor limvannet blir klargjort for lagring,karakterisert ved at fremgangsmåte innbefatter følgende trinn: - tilveiebringe nevnte skapninger om bord på et fiskefartøy; - fremstille limvann fra nevnte skapninger ved bruk av sentrifugering; - separere faste stoffer fra limvannet for å erholde en flytende fase; - fjerne overskudd av vann fra nevnte flytende fase for å erholde et flytende fase-konsentrat ved bruk av en ultrafiltreringsanordning (8); hvor temperaturen til nevnte skapninger, nevnte flytende fase og det flytende fase-konsentratet holdes under 50 °C og fortrinnsvis under 20 °C.2. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til krav 1, hvor skapningene er saltvannsfisk.3. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til kravene 1 og 2, hvor tilveiebringelse av saltvannsfisk om bord i fiskefartøyet videre innbefatter fragmentering av nevnte fisk om bord.4. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til 1, hvor skapningene er saltvannskrepsdyr.5. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til krav 4, hvor saltvanns-krepsdyrene er saltvanns-krill.6. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til krav 4, hvor tilveiebringelse av nevnte skapninger om bord på fiskefartøyet innbefatter tilveiebringelse av hele saltvanns-krill.7. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til hvilke som helst av de foregående krav, hvor separasjonene av limvann fra skapningene innbefatter bruk av en fastskålsentrifuge (solid bowl centrifuge) (2).8. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til krav 7, hvor fastskålsentrifugen (2) er en dekanter sentrifuge (2).9. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til hvilke som helst av de foregående krav, hvor separasjonen av faste stoffer fra nevnte limvann for å erholde en flytende fasen innbefatter bruk av en plateseparator (5) for å erholde en flytende fase fra limvannet.10. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til hvilke som helst av de foregående krav, hvor prosesseringstiden fra preparerte saltvannsskapninger til plassering av det flytende fase konsentratet i fryserommet (14) er i området 10 minutter til 60 minutter, fortrinnsvis i området 10 til 30 minutter.11. Fremgangsmåte i henhold til hvilke som helst av de foregående krav, hvor fremstillingen av det flytende fase konsentratet for lagring innbefatter følgende trinn:- overføre det flytende fase konsentratet med en tredje matepumpe (10) fra den tredje buffertanken (9) til en pakkeinnretning (11) for porsjonering og erholde forpakninger av det flytende fase konsentratet;- fryse forpakningene med det flytende fase konsentratet i en fryser (13) for å erholde en frossen tilstand til forpakningene med det flytende fase konsentratet;- lagre forpakningene av det flytende fase konsentratet i et fryserom (14).
Drawings

Priority

No priority

Patent classes

IPC classesA23J 1/04A23L 17/20A23L 17/00CPC classesA23J 1/04A23L 17/20A23L 17/00

Citations

WO 2021156407 A1 (A1)US 3586515 A (A)NO 162643 B (B)US 4216239 A (A)US 3249442 A (A)WO 2005115176 A1 (A1)US 2012283458 A1 (A1)NO 151269 B (B)

Applicants, owners and inventors

Owners
KRILL INVEST AS
Flyplassvegen 23 6040 VIGRA NO (GISKE Municipality, Møre og Romsdal county)Org. number: 925567272Inventors
Rune Idar Frostad
ØVRE TANGSKJÆRVEGEN 9 6006 ÅLESUND NO (Ã…LESUND Municipality, Møre og Romsdal county)
Bernt Kjelstadli
Solavågsvegen 192 6037 EIDSNES NO (SULA Municipality, Møre og Romsdal county)
Nils Halvard Molnes
Øyevegen 5 6040 VIGRA NO (GISKE Municipality, Møre og Romsdal county)
Roald Rogne
Fjellstad 9 6272 HILDRE NO (HARAM Municipality, Møre og Romsdal county)

Agent

BRYN AARFLOT AS
BRYN AARFLOT AS

Org. number: 979993269

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Org. number: 979993269
Reference: P6463NO00-CSA

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