RECOICE is a European project, designed to maximize the energy efficiency of fishing boats, through use of a novel heat recovery system. The RECOICE concept is to use a Stirling engine to convert waste heat from diesel exhaust into electrical energy to drive an onboard icemaker. The system will enable significant fuel savings and improve the quality of the fish delivered, resulting in a better value product for the consumer.
Cost Saving Ice Making System
Fish rapidly deteriorates in quality as soon as it is caught, so all modern fishing vessels carry a source of ice. Larger fishing vessels typically have on-board ice generators, powered by a diesel generator. However smaller fishing vessels do not have space for on-board ice making facilities, or capacity for the extra diesel. They are also not economically viable at small scale. Instead, they carry pre-frozen ice, which must be estimated and loaded onto the boat at the beginning of the fishing day.
Using pre-frozen ice is inconvenient, as it requires access to fishing terminals equipped with ice making machinery. It is also high cost, and the ice can melt during transportation, impacting the fish quality.
There is therefore demand for a custom designed ice maker, to allow small fishing vessels to operate a flexible fishing schedule, at minimal cost. RECOICE will provide an environmentally friendly solution to this problem, using waste heat from the diesel exhaust to run an onboard icemaker.
The RECOICE concept is to use the waste heat from the exhaust of the boat engine to drive a Stirling engine. The mechanical output from the Stirling engine will power the compressor pump in the icemaker, which will produce liquid ice from seawater.
TWI's role in the project is to work with Stirling engine designer ITS Energy, to make a product suitable for the RECOICE concept. Traditionally Stirling engines have been considered to have expensive components and poor reliability compared to other solutions. TWI's experience in mechanical design, lifetime extension and materials selection will be applied to re-design the Stirling engine to enable cost-effective manufacture and reliable operation onboard a fishing vessel. This will support the RECOICE concept, resulting in a commercially viable solution available to the fishing industry.
Partners
TWI's partners in this project are Ateknea Solutions Hungary, Ateknea Solutions Catalonia, ITS Energy, MW Innovation, Naval Architecture Progress, Verleene, and Cooltech.
For further information about the project, please visit the project website or contact us.