The LEWAS project will identify viable, cost-effective technologies and processes for increasing the efficiency of aquaculture work boats, whilst reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions.
£48,494
3 months
In this feasibility study, various sets of data were captured from one of Scottish Salmon Company’s workboats and much of the workboat equipment was found to be inefficient. However, when potential low-emission solutions were theoretically applied, the projected savings were found to be in the region of 8-10% of fuel, costing ~£500/year (~2tonnes CO2). This is not insignificant, but against low potential savings it is hard to justify a significant expenditure in new equipment.
However, on fitting of the power monitoring system to the workboat, there was an immediate change to behaviours of the workboat crew. Installing the monitoring system brought focus to the issues of fuel economy. The research team believe this behaviour could amounted to fuel savings in excess of 25% with virtually no investment.
There are many more opportunities within the operation of the fish farm for efficiency gains and GHG reductions including shore-based activities and feeding barges. However, there is a clear gap that needs to be addressed before low-emission solutions can be implemented. Not all farm operations are the same and one solution does not fit all. Therefore, to help the industry transition to more sustainable practices, farms need a holistic view of how their fuel is being used and what low emission solutions are most suitable to their operation based on the specific characteristics of the farm.
The use of logistical simulation modelling was proven to be an innovative, low cost, non-intrusive, and fast way of representing workboat operation and estimating workboat fuel use across a full cycle (18 months).
Malin Marine Limited