E NGINEERING D ESIGN O
F A B OUTIQUE
T ILAPIA P RODUCTION F ACILITY
James M. Ebeling, Ph.D.
Research Engineer
Douglas Drennan
Managing Member Aquaculture Systems Technologies New Orleans, LA Michael B. Timmons, Ph.D.
Professor
Cornell University
Barriers to the commercial aquaculture industry
?Competition among user groups for space and resources
?Use of non-indigenous species
?Genetic swamping of wild stocks
?Spread of disease to wild stocks
?Permitting issues and environmental issues
?Impacts of fishmeal use
?Wastes
?Chemicals and hormones
?Effluents
Land-based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems
?Avoids many of the user conflicts
?Alleviate the risks associated with non-indigenous species ?Reduces environmental contamination
?Provides for biosecurity
?High density production
?Optimal waste handling and treatment
?Improved FCR, reduced fishmeal usage
?Close to markets
New Species -Tilapia
360 000 tonnes (liveweight equivalent) in 2006, 1.2 kg/person
Five years ago this species was almost unknown in the US market!
Top 10 Consumed Seafoods
Top 10 Consumed Seafoods Pounds (Rank) Species20082005200019951990 Shrimp 4.10 (1) 4.10 (1) 3.20 (2) 2.50 (2) 2.20 (2) Tuna 2.80 (2) 3.10 (2) 3.50 (1) 3.40 (1) 3.70 (1) Salmon 1.84 (3) 2.43 (3) 1.58 (4) 1.19 (4)0.73 (5) Pollock 1.34 (4) 1.47 (4) 1.59 (3) 1.52 (3) 1.27 (4) Catfish0.92 (6) 1.03 (5)0.99 (5)0.86 (6)0.70 (6) Tilapia 1.19 (5)0.85 (6)-------------Crabs0.61 (7)0.64 (7)
Biological and Physical Design Criteria
Temperature, °F (°C)
75 to 85 (24 to 30)
Oxygen, mg/L 4 to 6
Oxygen partial pressure, mm Hg90
CO
2
, mg/L30 to 50 Total suspended solids, mg/L<20 Total ammonia -N, mg/L<3
NH
3
-N,mg/L<0.06 Nitrite-N,mg/L<1 Nitrate-N,mg/L<400 Salinity , ppt0 -32
Recirculating Aquaculture Engineering
Basic Premise:
Produce a given volume of market size fish at some predetermined schedule:?Based on the growth rate and stocking density,
the size and number of production tanks can then be estimated
?Production rate also defines the required fish feeding rate
?In turn determines the waste generation loads
(i.e. ammonia-nitrogen, carbon dioxide, solids) and also oxygen consumption rate
?Treatment systems can then be designed based on
both water quality demands and economics
Growth Rate
Weight-Length Relationship
Stocking Density
Engineering Design Parameters
BioPlan & System Conceptual Design
Production goals:
?500 kg (1,000 lbs) weekly or
?25 metric tonnes per year at a
?target size of 750g (~ 1.6 lb) Design Method:
Initial and final weights are known,
the corresponding lengths can be determined
using the growth rate, the time for growout estimated.
Subdivided into several stages: fry, juvenile, fingerling, growout
For this small-scale production scenario, multiple cohorts of fish are grown out in the same tank to save on capital and operational costs of the life-support equipment.
WAS 2009 Veracruz
BioPlan
Fry/Quarantine facility for four weeks and grows from an initial weight of 0.5 g to 4.3 g and from an initial length of 2.8 cm to 5.7 cm.
To reach a final length of 31.8 cm at 3.2 cm/month, requires 36 weeks
12 week fingerling stage from 4.3 g to 71 g
24 week growout stage from 71 to 750 g
Each of the fingerling tanks hold two cohorts stocked at six week intervals.
Three fingerling tanks are stocked every six weeks,
tilapia fingerlings are available every two weeks
Two mixed-cell raceways holding six cohorts of fish that are stocked every four weeks, with a grading and harvest every four weeks
Production BioPlan
Design: Fingerling Systems
Fingerling Systems -Total System Biomass
Design: Growout Systems Mixed-Cell Raceway -Biomass of Six Cohorts