RECOICE · DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW COST, LOW POWER CONSUMPTION SYSTEM FOR MANUFACTURING LIQUID ICE FOR FISHING

The aim of RECOICE is to produce ice without use of additional power from fishing boats. RECOICE is based on a heat recovery system that will provide heat (fuel) necessary to drive a Stirling engine. Since heat will be captured from the exhaust pipe of the boat’s existing diesel engine, it will not negatively impact fuel consumption. It is clearly seen, that operating an on-board liquid ice making system ensures better quality products. RECOICE project intends to develop a system that uses waste energy arising from the manoeuvring of the vessel. Recovering energy from the exhaust pipe by a heat exchanger, a Stirling-engine will generate the necessary power to run the cooling unit of the system. Preliminary tests and calculations have proven that during 10 hours long fishing trip the RECOICE system will be able to produce 3 tonnes of liquid ice. This amount is sufficient to cover the ice demand of a small size vessel to conserve its daily catch. Based on the efficiency and power calculations an average vessel could save 11 600 litres of diesel oil a year using RECOICE rather than other commercial on-board ice machines. Considering the average price of diesel oil to be 1.39€/liter, the direct savings in terms of diesel oil expenditures would be 16 000€/year per vessel.