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Fish Oil Recovery & By-Product Processing Plants
Specialty Food, Beverage & By-Product Processing

Fish Oil Recovery & By-Product Processing Plants

A fish oil recovery plant turns heads, frames, trimmings, offal or whole small fish into crude oil and, where wanted, fish meal, by cooking, pressing or decanting, and separating.

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Fish Oil Recovery & By-Product Processing Plants

The raw material spoils quickly, so the cold chain from landing to cooker shapes oil quality as much as the equipment does. A buyer has to settle first which species and by-products will be supplied, how fresh they will be on arrival, how many tonnes come in each day across the season, and whether the plant makes oil alone or oil with meal. Fat content swings with species and season, so oil recovery per tonne means little until those are stated. The cooker, press or decanter and separators follow from the daily tonnage. Odour collection and wastewater handling are sized from the same figure and often decide whether a site can be permitted at all. Steam, cooling water, hot water for polishing and a route out for cake, meal and sludge complete the definition.

Raw material is ground and cooked with indirect steam, which breaks the cells, coagulates protein and frees the oil and water held in the tissue. The cooked mass goes to a screw press, or to a decanter, which splits it into press cake and a liquor of oil, water and fine solids. A decanter and then a disc-stack separator divide the liquor into oil, stickwater and sludge. Stickwater still carries dissolved protein and some oil, so many plants evaporate it and mix the concentrate back into the cake before drying; this also cuts the effluent to be treated. A rotary dryer turns the cake into meal, heated either by hot gas in direct contact or by steam-heated surfaces. The choices that change the plant are oil only or oil with meal, direct or indirect drying, whether stickwater is evaporated or treated as effluent, and batch cookers for small tonnages or a continuous line for larger ones. The oil leaves the separators wet and impure, so it is washed with hot water and polished before it goes to sealed storage.

Indicative Capacity Range

  • 0.5–10 tonnes by-product/day

Key Specification Inputs

Cold chain, rendering, oil oxidation, odour and wastewater.

Technical Specifications

TechnologyWet rendering: cooking, pressing or decanting, then separation of oil, stickwater and solids
Raw MaterialHeads, frames, trimmings, offal or whole small fish; species and freshness set the design basis
ConfigurationOil only, or oil with stickwater evaporation and a meal drying section
Operating ModeBatch cookers for small tonnages or a continuous cooker, press and decanter line, chosen by daily tonnage and how steady the supply is
Heat SourceSteam from a boiler on local fuel; hot gas where a direct-fired dryer is chosen
Contact MaterialStainless steel where oil, liquor and condensate are handled; wear-resistant parts on press screws
Oil PolishingHot-water wash and centrifugal separation ahead of storage
Meal DryerRotary dryer, direct hot-gas or indirect steam-heated, chosen by fire risk, dust control and fuel cost
Odour ControlHooded exhaust from cooker, press and dryer to condensing and gas treatment
UtilitiesSteam, cooling water, hot water and electric power, plus ice or cold storage for raw material
Final OutputCrude fish oil, with fish meal where a dryer is included

Typical Process Route

1

Raw Material Reception and Grinding

By-products are received chilled, weighed, cleared of foreign matter and ground to an even size. Warm holding at this point lets bacteria and enzymes break down the fat, which raises free fatty acids in the oil and worsens the smell of everything downstream.

2

Cooking

Ground material is heated with indirect steam until the cells open and the oil is released. Good cooking shows up as a mass that presses well, so it is judged on the plant's own raw material at commissioning and not assumed.

3

Pressing or Decanting

A screw press or decanter takes the liquid out of the cooked mass and leaves press cake. An undercooked mass leaves oil in the cake and blinds the press screens.

4

Separating Oil, Stickwater and Solids

The liquor is cleared of fine solids and the oil is split from the stickwater in a centrifugal separator. Feed temperature and throughput are matched so that oil is not carried away in the water phase.

5

Oil Polishing

The oil is washed with hot water to draw out impurities and then polished in a centrifuge before it reaches storage. Water and fine solids left in the oil shorten its storage life and raise its acidity.

6

Stickwater Evaporation

Stickwater is concentrated in an evaporator and the concentrate is returned to the cake. This recovers dissolved solids and reduces wastewater, but the liquor fouls heating surfaces and needs steam and regular cleaning.

7

Fish Meal Drying and Milling

Where meal is made, the cake is dried in a rotary dryer and milled. Dryer temperatures, dust handling and exhaust collection need attention, because meal from oily fish can heat and ignite and dryer exhaust is a main source of odour.

8

Odour Collection and Oil Storage

Vapour from the cooker, press and dryer is hooded and ducted to condensing and treatment. The polished oil goes to sealed, cool tanks kept full where possible, to limit contact with air.

Process & Equipment Modules

  • Chilled raw material reception and holding
  • Grinder with feed hopper and screw
  • Indirect steam cooker
  • Screw press or decanter
  • Decanter centrifuge for solids removal
  • Disc-stack oil separator and polisher
  • Hot-water wash tank
  • Stickwater evaporator
  • Rotary meal dryer and mill
  • Odour collection hoods, ducts and treatment unit
  • Sealed oil storage tanks
  • Wastewater interface and solids removal

Plant Output

Crude fish oil in sealed storagePress cake or fish mealStickwater concentrate returned to the mealWastewater and sludge for treatment

Applications

  • Crude fish oil sold to refiners and oil blenders
  • Fish meal from the press cake for compounding by animal feed makers
  • Oil and meal from heads, frames and trimmings left by canning and filleting
  • Oil and meal from small pelagic fish landed in surplus
  • Rendering of offal from fish markets and landing sites that otherwise goes to waste
  • Oil as an input to aquaculture feed formulation
  • Pilot runs to test a new species or by-product stream before a full plant is sized

Key Features

  • Freshness Protected Upstream

    Chilled holding and a short path from landing to cooker are treated as part of the plant boundary, since warm raw material deteriorates before any equipment sees it.

  • Cooker Matched to the Raw Material

    Indirect steam cooking is set against the species and fat level, and is checked by how well the cooked mass presses on your own raw material.

  • Oil Alone or Oil with Meal

    The oil circuit can stand on its own. Adding stickwater evaporation and a dryer makes meal and recovers more solids, but brings dust, heat and exhaust duty.

  • Odour Collection Built In

    Hoods, ducts and a treatment stage at the cooker, press and dryer are scoped from the start, because that is where the smell leaves the plant.

  • Hot-Water Polishing Before Storage

    A hot-water wash and centrifuge ahead of sealed tanks keep the oil stable, and the hot-water supply belongs on the utilities list.

Country Pages for Fish Oil Recovery & By-Product Processing Plants

This product is listed on the pages of the countries below, each with its own enquiry route. Where Kadali has no office in a country, enquiries are handled from the Accra office.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What information is needed to size Fish Oil Recovery & By-Product Processing Plants?
The tonnes of by-product arriving each day and how that changes across the season, the species and parts supplied (heads, frames, offal or whole fish), how long and at what temperature they are held before processing, whether the plant makes oil only or oil with meal, the boiler fuel available, and the site's rules for odour and wastewater.
What capacity range does Fish Oil Recovery & By-Product Processing Plants cover?
The indicative capacity range is 0.5–10 tonnes by-product/day. It is stated on a by-product basis per day, so restate your own volume on that basis and say how many hours a day the plant will run.
Does the species of fish change where the oil comes from?
Yes. Fatty species such as herring-type fish carry their oil through the flesh, and the amount swings with species and season. Lean white fish hold most of their fat in the liver, so whole-fish processing gives little oil from them. Oil recovery per tonne is only meaningful with the species and season stated, which is why the design basis must name the fish that will actually be processed.
How fresh does the raw material need to be?
As fresh as you can get it. Breakdown by bacteria and enzymes speeds up quickly as the temperature rises, and it raises free fatty acids in the oil and worsens odour. Ice, chilled tanks or cold storage between landing and the cooker are therefore part of the project, not an extra. Offal and heads from filleting sites spoil faster than whole fish, so collection distance and time matter.
Should the plant make fish meal as well as oil?
Meal turns the press cake into a saleable product and keeps solids out of the waste stream, but it adds a stickwater evaporator, a dryer, a mill and a larger exhaust to treat. An oil-only plant is simpler and cheaper but leaves cake and stickwater to be disposed of. Decide from whether a feed buyer for the meal exists nearby and what the site can do with the residues.
Does a fish meal dryer add a fire or dust risk?
Yes. Meal from oily fish can self-heat, and fine meal dust can ignite. Dryer and meal-handling surface temperatures, dust collection, spark control and venting are points to settle in the explosion-protection basis of design. Indirect steam-heated drying runs at lower surface temperatures than direct hot-gas drying, which is one reason to weigh the two options early.
Why is odour such a demanding issue at a fish oil plant?
The strongest odours come from cooking, pressing and drying, and even a very large reduction in concentration leaves part of the smell. The practical answer is to keep exhaust volumes small, hood and duct those three points, and size the treatment unit for the strongest stream. Distance to homes matters too, so odour handling should be in the proposal scope from the start and not added after complaints.
What happens to the stickwater and the wash water?
Stickwater carries dissolved protein and oil, so evaporating it with a multiple effect evaporator and returning the concentrate to the cake is the usual way to recover value and shrink the effluent. What remains, with wash water and condensate, still has a high organic load and needs treatment or a discharge route agreed for the site before the plant is built.
How do I request a proposal for Fish Oil Recovery & By-Product Processing Plants?
Use the Request a Quote page and describe your project. Know the volume and freshness of by-product you can secure, the oil and meal specifications your buyers want and the odour and effluent rules at your site.

Enquire about Fish Oil Recovery & By-Product Processing Plants

Send your raw material, target product and capacity to Kadali Africa Ventures for a technical proposal.

Request a QuoteWhatsApp