Fishermen reduce costs by filtering seawater into fresh water

Fisherman Phan Van Tuy, owner of a fishing boat in Lam Son hamlet, Quynh Lap commune (Hoang Mai town) said: 3 months ago, a company in Hanoi that supplies seawater filtration machines to produce pure fresh water introduced him to the machine and let him test install it on the boat.

Fishermen check the water filter of the seawater to fresh water machine installed on Phan Van Tuy's boat. Photo: Xuan Hoang

The water purifier has a capacity of 120 liters/hour. After a period of use, the machine automatically sucks up seawater and filters it through the filters installed in the machine, producing pure fresh water, used for drinking, bathing, just like fresh water brought from the mainland.

Every day and night the machine filters more than 2 m³Fresh water, enough for all 10 fishermen on board to eat, drink, bathe and use. Therefore, the plastic barrels previously used to store fresh water reserves can now be used to store oil reserves to stay at sea for longer periods.

To filter seawater into pure fresh water, seawater must pass through these two filters. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Since having the water purifier, we only bring a small amount of fresh water on each trip to prevent any problems with the machine so we can have water to drink. Thanks to the reduced weight of fresh water (about 3 tons), my fishing boat can go faster when going out to sea, reducing fuel costs," Tuy confided.

Mr. Phan Van Hai - Chairman of Quynh Lap Fisheries Association has 2 fishing boats, capacity of over 800 CV/boat, specializing in offshore fishing. Mr. Hai said that 10 days ago, the company supplying seawater filtration machines to produce pure fresh water installed a machine for him to test.

According to Mr. Hai, Quynh Lap commune currently has 200 fishing boats at sea, of which 146 have a capacity of 90 CV or more. Every year, Quynh Lap exploits over 32,000 tons of seafood, with an income value of about 320 billion VND.

Recently, 3 ships in the commune have been installed with a machine to filter seawater into pure fresh water for testing. Initial results show that the machine is operating effectively.

Since having a machine to filter seawater into fresh water, Mr. Phan Van Tuy's boat only needs to use 2 fresh water tanks to have enough for long sea trips. Photo: Xuan Hoang

It is known that currently, fishermen in Nghe An province are installing this type of water filter very few, only a few boats in Quynh Lap commune. However, the trial period has not been long, so the durability of the product cannot be confirmed. Therefore, fishermen need to research carefully before investing, because the cost of this machine is relatively large (about 120 million VND).