One fish… two fish… red fish… grey crab?
We received a call from a crab processing facility that was having a problem with the crab meat turning grey, crab meat should be white.
We found out that the water used to rinse the crab would turn grey after about 30 minutes and then turn the meat grey. Dumping the rinse water and replacing it with fresh water every 30 minutes was too costly on the water and sewer bill. This one machine could use 12,000 gallons per day. They needed a way to recirculate the rinse water without turning the crab meat grey.
We went to the site and conducted bench testing. We took samples of the grey rinse water and ran it through six different media in different combinations. We conducted visual color tests on the samples and lab tests.
We found the color was filterable and proposed a pilot study to test a system. We proposed installing one backwashing filter with a media rated for fine filtration. This filter would filter the water recycled through the crab washing machine. However, we couldn’t backwash this filter with the crab rinse water. It was too dirty and the re-circulation pump didn’t produce enough gallons per minute or pressure to clean the media. So we installed the filter with an additional control that would open a feed from the city water for the backwash cycle.
As a pilot, we didn’t know how long the filter could run before it had to be backwashed. A shift on the crab washing machine could be six to 10 hours. And for the pilot, backwashing the filter required the crab washing machine to be shut off. So the washer operator will monitor pressure gauges before and after the filter to monitor its loading. Our hope is that we can get through a shift and backwash the filter after the washer is shut down.
Customized Water Treatment Systems in NH
Secondwind Water Systems loves unusual treatment challenges. We have experience with a large number of treatment systems and technologies and we have the expertise to combine those systems to meet even the most unusual requirements. Our expertise in customizing water treatment systems for complex problems in large or small businesses is just one of the many reasons why we’re the region’s leader in commercial water treatment.
