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Leading down the road to sustainability Nigel Lindley, NLC-ECO
Courtesy of Ever Extruder and Dedoussis Control systems.
“You cannot be serious!!!” For many who read this, these words may have little meaning. But for my generation and the one before it, these words spoken in 1981 by Wimbledon’s number one player and world tennis champion John McEnroe make perfect sense. John was challenging the referee’s decision as to whether the ball was on the line or out. Hawk eye or video replay came later! For tennis, as with many sports with professional players earning large amounts of money, these decisions were critical for a win or lose. So how serious are aquafeed companies when they use the word sustainability? How important is sustainability, and how can we, as process technologists, move the industry forward? Ultimately, there is no choice. Sustainability is here to stay. It is of
unprecedented importance wherever production takes place. Sustainability must be part of the DNA of each aquafeed facility. So yes, we have to be very SERIOUS. Having being involved in the aquafeed industry for over 25 years, I have seen many changes, but today, I still visit plants where poor energy recirculation and outdated technology abound. The purchase price remains the determining factor and long-term energy savings or sustainability are forgotten. I see extrusion systems running on technology of more than 30 years, dryers without recirculation and manual control of high capacity systems where the implementation of new technology could give a return on investment within six months of introduction while reducing costs by up to 35%.
Aquafeed: Advances in Processing & Formulation Vol 12 Issue 3 2020
