Sustainable production of fish protein hydrolysates: overall system architecture and footprint

In this research work, the most efficient and energy-saving techniques for fish protein hydrolysates production were investigated from cradle-to-gate, in terms of overall cooling, heating, and energy demands. Advanced techniques for concentrating and drying the FPH was examined in detail to identify the process combinations with efficient energy use. The direct drying process consumes significant energy between 1.53 to 1.8 kWh kg-1 of water removal. Concentrating using freeze concentration, three stage evaporator and mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) before the drying process resulted a reduction in the overall energy and the CO₂ emissions levels are calculated lower. The energy recovery solutions were investigated with integrated heat recovery using a transcritical two-stage CO₂ system in Dymola & EES. The simulation results have the heat pump COP of 3.5. Integration of heat pumps with the spray dryer resulted significant energy reduction of up to 71.5 %. Finally, the economic assessment has been carried out.