Soaring Energy Costs: How the SKAGINN 3X Non-Pressure Plate Freezer Can Help Fish Processors

Sometimes, less is more: the sustainable Non-Pressure Plate Freezer from SKAGINN 3X uses less time, energy, and workforce to deliver great benefits and better yield. Freezing your products offer additional flexibility against volatile demand or supply chain bottlenecks. What is more – the Non-Pressure Plate Freezer is also quite energy-sufficient. Freezing helps maintain product quality and can be used for various products. Compared to conventional blast freezers, the Non-Pressure Plate Freezer uses up to 30 per cent less energy while guaranteeing less yield loss. It can be used for pelagic fish, groundfish, and aquaculture. Ensuring gentle product handling is what makes it versatilely applicable. Due to its vertical design, it further saves space at a production site.

Main advantages of the SKAGINN 3X Non-Pressure Plate Freezer:

• Up to 30 per cent less electricity cost per kilo of raw material as compared to conventional blast freezers
• Faster freezing time leading to higher capacity units of up to 100 tons per 24 hours
• Less yield loss due to less product moisture evaporation during freezing
• Faster freezing time leads to smaller ice crystals and, therefore lower amount of drip loss when thawing the end products

Products are frozen in trays, allowing them to retain shape as no pressure is used in the freezing process. This gentle product handling prevents damage while maximizing yield and quality. The technology is ideal for the rapid, in-line freezing of large volumes of products.

Freezing large variety of products

The Plate Freezer design allows for a large variety of packed products, including bagged, solid board, or cardboard boxes, to be handled. Freezing of unpacked products is also possible in trays with lids. The most traditional way of freezing the end products is to put a pre-defined amount of product into a bag that is then placed in plastic trays for freezing to keep the product's shape. After freezing, the product is automatically taken out of the plastic tray, washed and reused. Many different options are available, depending on the end product design criteria for shape, size, and external packaging.

Customizable freezer size

The freezer is available in various sizes, ranging from 20 to 100 tons per 24 hours at -18 °C for a single freezer. Moreover, multiple freezers can be connected to create the desired freezing capacity. A fully automated infeed system makes the workforce to load the unit redundant. The fast freezing and automated loading and unloading increase overall system capacity and ensure consistently high product quality.

In optimal circumstances, the Non-Pressure Plate Freezer can run for up to 10 days without defrosting and cleaning. This helps processors gain a higher and more sustainable throughput for extended periods. This has proven vital for fish processors, dealing with the seasonality of fishing and the constant battle to capture and freeze the raw material while it is still fresh.

Ask your Sales rep for more info

If you wish to learn more about how you could benefit from adding a SKAGINN 3X Non-Pressure Plate Freezer to your fish processing portfolio, reach out to your local Sales representative.