Analysis of the fish and seafood canning industry under the IPPC framework

Transcription

1 Analysis of the fish and seafood canning industry under the IPPC framework Sandra Valiño, Carmen Barros, Pastora Bello, Juan Casares Department of Chemical Engineering. University of Santiago de Compostela, s/n, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain Abstract: Fish and seafood canning industry constitutes a fundamental sector for the economy of Galicia (NW Spain), where those companies represent more than 50% of the total number of installations of this sector in Spain, and they account for 80% of the national production. So, highlighting their essential role in the economy of the region, it is important to foster the sustainability through the responsible consumption of raw materials, the prevention and reduction of waste generation and the use of green technologies. This is a desirable goal at the European Union which can be undertaken with the philosophy proposed by the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive. This Directive lays down a framework requiring EU Member States to issue operating permits for industrial installations carrying out certain activities described in its Annex 1, including fish and seafood canning industry in its epigraph 6.4.b. The main points of those laws are prevention, multimedia licensing, reporting, freedom of access of information, use of Best Available Techniques (BAT), and setting of Emission Limit Values (ELVs). Moreover, the Directive takes into account emissions to the air, water and soil, as well as waste management, resource efficiency and energy efficiency aspects. In brief, the purpose of the IPPC is to achieve a high level of protection for the total environment and the health of people. This paper presents the application of the Directive to the fish and seafood canning sector in Galicia, considering the following steps: general information of the sector, which includes a statistical study and the degree of affectation, analysis of the industrial processes, environmental aspects of the productive system, involving the consumption and emission levels, and selection of BAT by offering a method to establish cleaner options or candidate techniques described in a previous work. Several guidelines as BREFs, have been used to establish BAT. Keywords: Fish and seafood canning industry, Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), Best Available Techniques (BAT), Emission Limit Values. 1. INTRODUCTION On September 1996, the Council of the European Community issued Directive 96/61/EC [1], the IPPC Directive, that lays down a basic operational framework requiring EU Member States to issue operating permits for certain industrial installations carrying on industrial activities described in its Annex 1, including those dealing with fish and seafood canning industry. The main points of Directive are the prevention, multimedia licensing, reporting, freedom of access of information, the use of Best Available Techniques (BAT), and the setting of Emission Limit Values (ELVs). Moreover, the Directive takes into account emissions to the air, water and soil, as well as waste management, resource efficiency and energy efficiency aspects [2]. In brief, the aim of the IPPC Directive is to achieve a high level of protection for the total environment. On this account, this licence is recognized by all those concerned as a most useful instrument to regulate industrial installations with a view to achieving integrated pollution prevention and control. This Directive lays down a framework requiring EU Member States to issue operating permits for industrial installations carrying out certain activities described in its Annex 1, among them fish and seafood canning industries in its epigraph 9, annex I as follows: «Treatment and processing intended for the production of food products from animal raw materials (other than milk) with a finished production capacity greater than 75 tonnes per day» The incorporation of IPPC into the Spanish legal system was done by Law 16/2002 [3]. Accordingly, a new administrative concept of intervention has come out (so called Integrated Environmental Authorisation), which replaces and agglutinates a dispersed group of environmental authorisations required up to now. The integrated approach means that the permit must take into account the whole environmental performance of the plant, such as, waste production and management, including incineration, discharge to continental waters and from land to sea, as well as others environmental requirements setting by sectorial legislation. The aim of this paper is to present several actions aimed at reducing odours, noise, air pollution and effluent generation in the fish and seafood canning sector. This paper includes the selection of the Best Available Techniques taking into account environmental aspects, technical description, benefits/environmental data, secondary effects by applying the technique, implementation and economical aspects, by offering a method to establish cleaner options or candidate techniques described in a previous work [4]. This study has been focused on Galician sector (NW Spain) being the canning industry a well-known sector in the region with large installations and significant weight on the regional GDP. 2. GENERAL INFORMATION OF THE SECTOR In the Spanish fish industry, centuries-old fishing traditions, knowledge and experience about processing fish, shellfish and crustaceans are combined with the opportunities offered by modern production. In addition to numerous fish products there is also an extensive range of shellfish and crustaceans, available either fresh or in a variety of processing forms. Regarding to canning indus- Corresponding author: P. Bello, eqpmbb@usc.es 715

2 try, more than 360,000 tonnes of canned products (in 150 to 200 varieties) are produced in Spain per year. Over 25,000 people are employed directly in this sector and indirectly, 125,000; constituting a basic sector of the Spanish economy. Whereas there were still 373 canners in Spain in 1980, there are now only 140, and the process of concentration still does not seem to be complete [5]. Spain s most important fishing region is the north of the country, specially Galicia, in the northwest coast of the country, where most of the fish from the North Atlantic and other fishing regions are landed and processed. Galician companies dominate the Spanish market, and also have a leading position in the European Union. There are approximately 140 companies that produce canned seafood in Spain, and 65 are located in Galicia. It is important to highlight, that fish canning factories play an essential role in the region s economy, hence Galicia turned over the 78% of the total national sales and generated 248,958 tons of seafish and shellfish in 2005, representing 80% of the whole production [6]. The daily auction on the fishing port of Vigo (the most populated Galician town), conveys an impression of the strength of the sector, as an example, in 1999, 550,870 tonnes of fish-fresh, salted or frozen passed over the quayside [5]. On the other hand, a characteristic of the canning industry structure in Galicia is that only 10 factories hold 50% of the total production with 71 existing plants [7]. The main species in the Galician canning industries is tuna, which represents 49% of the total production, following by sardine, mussel, white tuna, and cephalopods. Eight of the installations dedicated to canned fish and seafood in Galicia are affected by the IPPC Directive and Law 16/2002 [3]. These installations represent around 4% of the total number affected by IPPC in Galicia. 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS The fish and seafood canning process can be divided in four main stages: preliminary operations, processing, final and auxiliary operations as shown in fig. 1 [7]. Following, a description of each stage is given Preliminary operations The reception of raw materials and containers corresponds to this step. It is usually necessary to wash the containers before they are filled. For an effective washing, it must be done using hot water sprinklers with the containers upside-down. It is important for the container to be clean because it plays the fundamental role of accompanying the product throughout its whole packaged life [8]. On the other hand, after entering, raw materials are checked and transported by electrical lifting trucks that lead them to suitable store as follows: maintenance store, freezing room, freezing tunnel or freezer process in brine, according to temperature and preservative time of canning [9,10]. When raw materials are received frozen, thawing is needed before further processing. The aim is to reach an optimum cutting temperature, which avoids damaging raw materials in the cutting. Thawing at ambient temperatures is slower than using water or hot air; by and large the traditional process takes place under running water [8]. Fig 1: General stages of the fish and seafood canning manufacturing installations. 716

3 Following, fish are carried by an industrial vehicle to a manual-operated washing machine, where it is de-headed, cut and eviscerated by hand or automatically, depending on the species being processed [10]. There are several cutting techniques, according to fish size, state of preservation and can size [9]. Small fish undergo chemical peeling in several factories; the target is to remove the skin from fish to improve the taste of the final product. The material to be peeled is placed in a dilute solution, e.g. 1 to 2% but as high as 20%, of caustic soda, heated to ºC during some minutes [7]. This softens the skin which can be removed later. Regarding to molluscs (like mussels), after thawing they proceed to the declumper to break up the mollusc clusters into pieces (metallic clawed cylinder). Then, the byssus has to be removed using a debysser machine Subsequently, raw material is washed to remove and separate unwanted components to ensure that the surface of the product is in suitable condition for further processing. Unwanted components can include dirt or residual peel, brine used for preservation, soil or microorganisms. There are many types of machines and systems that have been adapted for washing material. Washing can be carry out by vigorous spraying with cleaning seawater or tap water, or by immersion in cleaning-bleeding ponds. After washing step, the fish is placed in a metallic grill to cook it. Sometimes, an additional wash is carried out to avoid darkening the meat during cooking or a great deal of gumming of brine [9,10]. On the other hand, preparation, suitable storage according to the date of entry into the store area, and labelling of ingredients (oil, vinegar, tomato, spices, etc) are made at once. Trimming is made by adding ingredients to sauce in a heating tank (at 80-90ºC). When the mixing is ready, it is sent to the filling line dispensers by means of a pumping station [11] Processing The cooking is the core step of the process, since it also alter the texture, colour and moisture content of the product, and may facilitate later processes. Here, raw materials are forced under heat treatment at ºC and atmospheric pressure by hot dipping in brine or in steam atmosphere. Moreover, there are several different types of ovens [9,10]: -Bath ovens, where the raw material is immersed in brine and it begins to boil due to steam heating coil places in the bottom oven. On one hand, bad temperature depends on the brine degree of salinity. On the other hand cooking time is established according to the sort of raw material (45-60 min. slices, min. full pieces). The brine is removed from the ovens every 2 to 6 loads. -Steam ovens carry out the heating treatment at low pressure, water shower is eliminated and any heating is only due to the steam produced in the collection basin. Next, the product is usually cleaned with hoses [9]. The fish or seafood is then cooled, which may take several hours. Refrigeration may be used to reduce the cooling time [12]. This step can be undertaken by placing raw material in water ponds, leaving it at room temperature or by going through a controlled moisture tunnel or a cooler [9, 10]. After cooling, head, fins, bones, and the undesirable meat of fish are removed by hand, and the remainder is cut or chopped to be placed in cans [12]. In the case of molluscs, they are passed to separation equipment to remove the meat from the shell by a shaker conveyor belt, rotator tunnel or flotation in a brine bath [10]. The next step is an additional washing to remove residues still remaining in the meat (sand, rest of shells, etc). The dehydration step is carried out then to remove water contained in the meat, using steam. Regarding cephalopods, they undergo double cutting after refrigeration. First of all they are cut by knife, later they are washed to remove undesirable organic material and finally they are cut according to the desirable final shape. To this point, fish and seafood canning and trimming additions are made. The canning process depends on species, production volume, business use, etc. Canning takes place when it reaches suitable temperature of raw material. Large fish and seafood pieces are packed by hand under a peeling table adding covering liquids. By and large, whilst small and medium ones are packed through automatic lines. The majority of remaining products are canned as low-quality meat [9, 10]. Next, trimming additions are made according to different kinds of covering liquids such as vegetable oils, brine, sauces, vinegar, etc through a dosing vacuum machine Final operations After canning, containers must be vacuum-packed and sealed in order to avoid the irreversible distortion of tinplate owing to the increase of pressure inside the can itself during the sterilization step [13]. Then, they are washed through a hot water jet with or without detergent or by immersion. The aim is eliminate the remainder of oils or stock particles accumulated on the can surface. Furthermore, washing machines could have an oil trap system or/and water recirculation. After that, sterilisation under a thermal process in autoclave is made to destroy or inactive present microorganisms [13]. The sterilisation process must be under precise control due to heat affecting seafood nutritive components, for example, high temperatures damage massive quantities of vitamins. Following, a cooling operation takes place by means of a cold water shower to prevent a thermal shock or a drastic pressure drop. Final temperature achieved is around to 40ºC. Again, tins undertake a washing and drying step by means of hot water with detergent in a washing tunnel [9, 10]. Once products are packed, they are labelled, showing the kind of product, ingredients and best before date. Finally, they are stored at room temperature up to their delivery. During storage, a visual control of can blowing is necessary to guarantee correct sterilisation Auxiliary operations A number of operations needed in the manufacturing process, such as the cleaning and maintenance of the facilities for keeping them in good working order and for health and safety measures as well, are included here: washroom services for the staff of the installation, the boiler and heating services for operations that require great quantities of steam for cooking and in the sterilization steps. Other operations are the management of waste and the waste water treatment plant (WWTP) for the management of the two wastewater streams one with a high organic load (HOL) and another with a low 717

4 organic load (LOL) by means of aerobic and anaerobic digestion, among other essential technologies. 4. ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS The main environmental aspects that derive from the processing of canned fish are: -. - Waste water. - Solid waste. - Energy consumption. Fish and seafood processing plants are in general large in size and are concentrated in specific areas near the sea. Direct discharge using ocean produces outlets a negative impact on the environment. The biological treatment of this water presents very specific problems due to the high salinity content. With reference to solid waste, this consists in general of organic remains because exploitation of raw materials never achieves 100%, they have traditionally been processed to obtain fish meat and fish oil that are used for animal (dried food) and human (margarine and shortening) food respectively. In addition, trimming liquid is spilled due to transport, handling, canning, sealing and equipment cleaning, involving waste of resources. Hence COD, BOD and fish fat are environmental indicators of the quality of the liquid effluent. Moreover, one of the main impacts at the local scale of this type of industry are unpleasant odours due to the rapid decomposition of the raw material and being worse where the installations are for producing fish meat and fish oil [8]. Energy consumption depends on installation, equipment and process. Process heating uses approximately 29% of the total energy in the canning sector and process cooling and refrigeration accounts for about 16%. Average energy consumption for the canning industry is roughly kwh/t processing fish or seafood [16] Emissions to air Emissions to air which are generated on account of the activity of fish and seafood canning industry, are not considered of great importance. Pollution produced by this sort of industry is due mainly to: use of fossil fuel (cooking, sterilization and cleaning stages that need heat or steam water produced by boilers and heating services), generating smelly substances due to storage of solid wastes or dirty boxes placed around the plant, and stagnant waste water. Beside, CFC emissions come from the cooling system [14]. The pollutants generated because of combustion processes are CO 2, SO 2, NO x, CO, particulate matter and VOC [9, 14, 15]. SH 2 and (CH 3 ) 3 N are the main pollutants generating bad odors [12, 14] is one of the key environmental issues for the fish and seafood canning sector. Although the canning industry is an extremely diverse sector, certain sources of waste water are common to many installations. These include cleaning of installation and products containers, washing of raw materials, water used for cooking, etc. The waste water is extremely variable in composition and has a large content in salt and high organic load. The main environmental aspects caused by emissions to water from the canning industry are hypoxia and eutrophication as a secondary effect. Furthermore, cloudiness is caused by suspended solid which hampers photosynthesis, reducing dissolved oxygen supply. Another point of concern is the temperature of effluents, increasing temperature involves a drop of dissolved oxygen concentration so the aquatic lifetime to more vulnerable before illness, parasites and toxic substances [17, 18, 19]. 5. PROCESSES TECHNIQUES The directive includes a definition of BAT in article 2.11 [1]: "shall mean the most effective and advanced stage in the development of activities and their methods of operation which indicate the practical suitability of particular techniques for providing in principle the basis for emission limit values designed to prevent and, where that is not practicable, generally to reduce emissions and the impact on the environment as a whole". The methodology is been used to establish the processes techniques, involves the identification of the environmental problems (taking into account raw material, water and energy consumption levels, as well as emissions to air, water, land and generated wastes) and the study of current techniques under several aspects like technical description, benefits/environmental data, environmental aspects, secondary effects by applying the technique, implementation, application and characterization and economical aspects. The techniques to consider in the determination of best available technology and environmental aspects are shown in table 1 and table 2 [7]. 6. CONCLUSIONS In this paper the application of the IPPC philosophy for the fish and seafood caning industry has been made. Firstly, a structured overview of the situation of the sector in Galicia has been shown. Following this, the productive process encompassing different activities in the sector has been described, taken into account the environmental aspects for each stage. A list of recommended BAT reference techniques for new and existing installations is offered. The performed study has led to the drawing-up of an exclusively designed support guide for the sector including an application form to submit the environmental permit in this area [7]. 7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by the Regional Government of Galicia (Project nº 2005/CP291). 718

5 Table 1 Techniques to consider in the determination of best available technology and environmental aspects. PRELIMINARY OPERATIONS PROCESS STAGES Raw material TECHNIQUES TO CONSIDER IN THE DETERMINATION OF BAT Reception, storage and cleaning of containers Dumping vacuum suction system Reception Treatment of sewage generates in the raw materials reception Closed-circuit for defrosting water Refrigeration of condensers Storage Automation of cold distribution and generation system Defrosting with warm water Defrosting with humid air Defrosting Water cut system during defrosting Reuse water/ice mixture Defrosting up to -4 ºC Dry de-heading cleaning up by conveyors Replacement of filleting sprinklers by others with less consumption of water Dry removal and transport of entrails by tilted ramp De-heading, cutting and eviscer- Removal and transport of fat and entrails by Dry cleaning in the filleting stage ating vacuum Washing Special slicing for frozen fish Using the filtered recirculated scaling waste water for preliminary fish rinsing Adjustment of skinning operation Optimization of water sprinklers using Setting of sprinklers to occasionally cleaning Cleaning of entrails and meat without mixing them Fish washing by shower instead of using dipping bath Grilling Reception, storage and ingredients preparation MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS Containers consumption Electrical energy consumption Raw materials consumption Consumption and emissions to water Water comsuption and discharge Ingredients consumption 719

6 PROCESSING FINAL OPERATIONS AUXILIARY OPERATIONS Table 2 Techniques to consider in the determination of best available technology and environmental aspects. PROCESS STAGES TECHNIQUES TO CONSIDER IN THE DETERMINATION OF BAT MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS Control of cooking parameters. Installation of thermostat Process monitoring Fuel and electric energy consumption Cooking in fresh water Steam/vacuum cooking Cooking Emptying of ovens Isolation of ovens Energy consumption Brine regeneration by filters Brine regeneration by membranes Segregation of cooked oil Recuperation and reusing of protein content from cooking effluent Washing Utilization of jet hoses and shut-off valves Skinning Using vacuum suction system Canning Closed systems to avoid liquid leakages Water and raw materials consumption Recycling process water to wash cans Washing Raw materials consumption Washers with oil recovery systems Insullation of sterilisation system Fuel consumption Sterilisation Recuperation and reusing of refrigeration water from sterilization stage Washing and drying Washers with water recirculation Storage Products consumption Setting of solid filter Dry transport of fat, entrails, skin and fillets, incorporating mesh conveyors Removal and transport of fat and v entrails by vacuum Cleaning High pressure cleaning Automatic openning/self-closing cock Recovery of oils from process water to use it as a fuel Recovery of refrigeration water in autoclaves Reduction of wastes and Maintenance of the facilities emissions Combined heat and power generation (CHP) Energy consumption Heat recovery from exhausted gases Thermal pollution Boilers and heating Recovery of condensed effluent Insullation of steam distribution system Fuel consumption Using biogas as a fuel Using natural gas Emissions to air 720

7 REFERENCES [1] Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control. Official Journal of the European Communities 1996; L 257, pp [2] IPPC European Commission available at [3] Ley 16/2002, de 1 de Julio relativa a la prevención y el control integrados de la contaminación. Boletín Oficial del Estado nº 157, 02/07/2002, pp [4] M.C. Barros, P. Bello, E. Roca, J.J. Casares. J. Hazard. Mater., 141 (2007) [5] Department of fishing and maritime affairs. Xunta de Galicia: web side [6] Eurofish International Organisation: web side [7] J.J. Casares, P.M. Bello, M.T. Torres, S. Pombo, J.M. Álvarez-Campana, A. García, J. Santamarina. Environmental Permit: Application guide for the fish and shellfish canning industry (in Galician). Department of Environment. Xunta de Galicia. Santiago de Compostela (2005) pp [8] Regional Activity Centre for Cleaner Production (RAC/CP) (2001) Pollution prevention in food canning processes. Mediterranean action plan. [9] IHOBE. White paper for the minimisation of waste and emissions. Fish cannery industries (in Spanish). País Vasco, [10] ANFACO-CECOPESCA (2000). Estudio de la demanda tecnológica y de investigación en la industria de transformación de productos del mar. [11] ANFACO-CECOPESCA (1997). Estudio para el desarrollo de nuevos productos empleando como materia prima base bonito del norte y caballa. [12] Fish Processing. Emission Factor Documentation for AP-42. Section (Revised Draft Report). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1993). [13] M.C. Barros, A. Magán, P.M. Bello, J.J. Casares, J.M. Blanco. Sent to J. Clean. Prod. (2007). [14] Prevención da contaminación no sector da industria conserveira de peixes e mariscos. Colección técnica, medio ambiente. Xunta de Galicia (2001), pp [15] Emission Estimation Technique Manual for Seafood Processing Industry. National Pollutant Inventory. Environment Australia (1999). [16] European Commission. Reference Document on Best Available Techniques in the Food, Drink and Milk Industries. IPTS (Institute for Prospective Technological Studies). August (2006), pp [17] Environment Canada. Available at [18] Environment Europe Available at [19] C. Orozco, A. Pérez, M.N. González, F.J. Rodríguez, J.M. Alfayate (2003). Contaminación ambiental. Ed Thomson. 721