by Jeppe Mortensen, Sales Manager, Frea Solutions ApS, Denmark
Frea Solutions is focused on trout farming in land-based systems, delivering RAS solutions that are simple, easy to operate and maintain, energy efficient, and with unmatched CAPEX/OPEX profiles.
Frea Solutions has, during the past 30 years, worked with trout farmers to upgrade their farms for improved production efficiency. Providing fish farmers with advice and solutions – coupled with the daily operational experience from operating its own large-scale RAS trout farm, and eight outdoor trout farms – the solutions supplied by Frea Solutions are built on a solid foundation of extensive aquaculture experience, and proven technology.
Driven by Innovation
Frea Solutions is driven by a passion for innovation and optimization of its RAS solutions. Founder and owner, Christian Jørgensen, has been trout farmer for more than 40 years, and was first-mover in Denmark to convert fish farms into partial or full recirculation systems. With Christian’s decades of passion for trout farming, he continuously invests in new concepts and solutions to make land-based trout farming as cost efficient as possible.
Using our own commercial-scale trout RAS facility (Frea), as well as our 8 outdoor farms, Frea Solutions is constantly looking at ways to improve the operational efficiency of its solutions.
In close cooperation with universities – and a wide range of suppliers to the aquaculture industry – we’re on a continuing basis involved in various innovative research programs. At our own trout farms we run feed trials, test performance of genetics, and always looking at ways to take advantage of any possible productivity gains.
Low CAPEX, low OPEX.
With a combination of innovative, proven solutions, the operational simplicity enables FREA Solutions to deliver RAS solutions with a very attractive CAPEX and OPEX profile.
Using raceways, the land footprint can be kept at a minimum, and the use of standardized, prefabricated concrete elements, results in a predictable fast construction time.
Use of sludge cones instead of drumfilters, airlifts instead of fish pumps – and implementation of other cost-efficient solutions – effectively eliminates the cost of expensive equipment components and further drives down CAPEX, energy consumption, and maintenance/repair cost.
Raceways and channels are the building blocks of our RAS farm solutions, and ensures an optimal utilization of the available land footprint. A small footprint greatly reduces building costs, and with minimal underground piping, risk of an expensive underground repair is virtually eliminated.
In our RAS facilities, all water is moved in channels by gravity, and only lifted once per recirculation. This reduces the energy consumption, and channels makes fish handling simple and effective.
Energy efficiency is a core focus in our solutions, and Frea is our own fully recirculated RAS facility, producing more than 2.200 metric tons of rainbow trout per year. Frea has been in operation since 2014, and operating with a positive cash flow since 2015.
With operational simplicity, and energy intensive processes reduced to a minimum, Frea uses only 1.5 kWh per kilo trout produced. This makes FREA one of the most sustainable, and energy efficient RAS farms, in the world.
How CAPEX and OPEX are kept low for our RAS solutions
Investor Confidence
Investor confidence in our solutions is very important, and we look at sustainability from three angles. Financial, environmental, and mitigating production risks.
Low CAPEX, low OPEX, solutions based on proven solutions – and minimal maintenance and repair cost – are the pillars for financial sustainability.
Optimal utilization of available land means less construction, and less use of resources. Greatly reduced dependency on energy demanding equipment, and water moved in channels by gravitiy, results in a highly energy efficient production – and with no effluents from the facility left untreated, the environmental impact of a FREA facility is minimal.
Production risks are mitigated by testing and operating our RAS solutions on a commercial scale – before bringing it to market. This provides operational reliability, takes significant risk elements out of the RAS project, and ensures peace of mind for aquaculture investors.
New Modular Grow-out Module
Frea Solutions will in the second half of 2024 be offering a new modular system for grow-out production facilities. This module is ideal for growing trout to a harvest size of two to three kilograms. Each module is highly scaleable with a production capacity of 100 to 120 tons. Additional modules can be added to increase the overall production capacity (as cash flow allows). As with all our new innovative solutions, the module has been built in full commercial scale, and is currently undergoing rigid testing to provide input for adjustments and further improvements – before putting the module on the market later in 2024.
Addressing the Aquaculture Bottleneck
Keeping it simple ensures ease of operation, and eliminates the need for highly specialized and expensive operators – a significant bottleneck in the RAS sector. This also greatly reduces overall staff training cost.
Frea Solution provides on-site training of RAS operators – both in our own Frea facility, as well as in the RAS facility delivered to the customer. This further attributes to an economic viable, and successful RAS project.
Own Manufacturing
Frea Solution has its own 2.000 m2 manufacturing workshop located right next to the Frea farm, facilitating that new developments can easily be tested on a full scale production. Our experienced production staff has for three decades been producing high-quality components and RAS solutions for the aquaculture industry.
Upgrade of Existing Fish Farms
Climate change means that many fish farmers have to deal with severe challenges, including unpredictable availability of water, deteriorating water quality, increasing water temperatures, and reduced oxygen levels. Several of Frea Solutions’ simple and cost-efficient farming solutions, can also be applied to existing facilities.
Besides mitigating climate challenges, advice and upgrades from Frea Solutions, will also enhance the overall production efficiency.
Current project case: Due to climate change, a large-scale European trout farm is struggling with seasonal variations in accessible water volumes, increasing water temperatures, and reduced oxygen levels. Existing farm operation is based on flow-through, with no recovery of effluent discharges.
Planned upgrade: In stages, this large facility will be converted into a fully recirculated RAS facility. This is done by adding sludge cones to retrieve solids, and converting some of the existing production raceways into ‘water treatment sections’ with biofilters, degassing, and improved oxygenation of the (now) recirculated water.
Additionally, the established RAS sections will be covered with a roof for enhanced temperature control, and greatly improved biosecurity. Solar panels will be installed on roof sections for on-site energy generation. Furthermore, land is allocated for a facility for recovery of effluent discharges.
Upgrading from flow-through to RAS will result in; greatly reduced water consumption, better temperature control, improved CO2 degassing, improved oxygenation, retrieval of solids, and improved water parameters.
The improvement in water parameters allows for higher stocking densities and improved growth, resulting in higher production volumes. Retrieval and treatment of solids from sludge cones and biofilters ensures a high environmental sustainability of the RAS facility.
Welcoming visits
We welcome customers and project investors to visit our Frea facility, reassuring themselves about the operational efficiency of our simple and effective RAS technologies – all tested and proven through real-world application.
You can meet us at stand #85 at AQUA 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 26th – 30th, 2024.
Published in the August 2024 issue of International Aquafeed.
