Abstract A new technology for live seafood transportation has been developed and tested at real conditions. The technology, whose purpose is to treat the water to allow for increased transportation periods and biomass loads, comprises the following steps: (i) pH control to maintain low NH3 concentration; (ii) electrochemical removal of ammonia; (iii) water disinfection; and (iv) separation of dissolved and particulate organic matter. A fraction of the rearing water is separated several times a day from the live seafood vessels and electrolyzed in a separate reactor to generate active chlorine, which oxidizes ammonia into nitrogen gas, in parallel to disinfecting the water. The electrolyzed water is then dechlorinated by a metabisulfite-based solution and pumped back to the holding tanks through an activated carbon column, applied to remove traces of both chlorine residuals and soluble organic matter. The water treatment process is thereafter repeated with a new portion of water, in a batch manner, as required to maintain the ammonia concentration at a predetermined value. The proposed technology was tested with European brown crab (Cancer pagurus). Four experiments were conducted to simulate transportation in cold aerated water using contemporary technology (two “control” tanks) and a similar setup was operated in parallel, but in which the rearing water was treated, using the tested technology. The tanks that were operated with the new system showed significant reduction in un-ionized ammonia and dissolved and particulate organic matter concentrations. Accordingly, the treatment resulted in much higher survival rates of the crabs, in experiments lasting for 16 days, conducted at a high crab density (~170 kg/m3). Economic analysis conducted using the data obtained in this Proof-of-concept study showed that the proposed technology has the potential to significantly increase the profitability of seafood producers and retailers and to decrease the price of live seafood to the consumer.

中文翻译：

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长时间高密度活贝类运输新技术的概念证明：以褐蟹为例

摘要 开发了一种活海鲜运输新技术，并在实际条件下进行了测试。该技术的目的是处理水以增加运输周期和生物量负荷，包括以下步骤： (i) pH 控制以保持低 NH3 浓度；(ii) 电化学去除氨；(iii) 水消毒；(iv) 溶解和颗粒有机物的分离。一部分养殖水每天从活海鲜容器中分离数次，并在单独的反应器中电解以产生活性氯，将氨氧化成氮气，同时对水进行消毒。然后电解水通过焦亚硫酸盐溶液脱氯，并通过活性炭柱泵回储罐，用于去除痕量的氯残留物和可溶性有机物。此后，根据需要，用新部分的水以分批方式重复水处理过程，以将氨浓度保持在预定值。提议的技术在欧洲褐蟹（Cancer pagurus）上进行了测试。使用现代技术（两个“控制”水箱）进行了四个实验来模拟在冷曝气水中的运输，并并行操作类似的设置，但其中使用测试技术处理养殖水。使用新系统运行的储罐显示未电离氨以及溶解和颗粒有机物浓度显着降低。因此，处理导致螃蟹的成活率高得多，在持续 16 天的实验中，在高螃蟹密度 (~170 kg/m3) 下进行。使用此概念验证研究中获得的数据进行的经济分析表明，所提议的技术有可能显着提高海产品生产商和零售商的盈利能力，并降低消费者对活海产品的价格。