CleanTreat® by Benchmark® is an industry first water purification system that removes medicines from treatment water before returning to the sea. Operating in Norway since 2021 to purify our new sea lice medicine, Ectosan Vet, CleanTreat® has purified over 900,000m³ of treatment in its first full year of operations.

The solution makes use of the now common practice of using well boats for managing parasitic infestations, i.e., the delousing of salmon. The wellboat provides a standardised, controlled and contained environment for the operation. This ensures the correct dosing, control over quality and welfare parameters and full security from the external environment.

After treatment, the fish are rinsed to remove any external medicinal residues and dewatered to ensure all treatment water remains on the wellboat, before they are returned to their sea pens. The treatment water, and rinsing water, is transferred to a separate vessel where CleanTreat® purifies the water ensuring no detectable residue of the medicine goes back into the sea.

In addition to removing the medicine, CleanTreat® removes the organic matter from the treatment water, including sea lice and egg strings, minimising the potential development of resistance.

CleanTreat® opens the door for the development of new, efficacious medicines to tackle sea lice problems and has been recognised by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) within their scoring methods relating to salmon producer’s use of medicines. ASC standards set a maximum number of medicinal treatments that can be performed at a site, termed Weighted Number of Medicinal Treatments (WNMT). However, any treatment performed with CleanTreat whereby the medicine is purified before release of the treatment water, that treatment will not contribute to the WNMT score, providing producers with greater access to efficient and reliable treatment methods.

In 2019, CleanTreat® by Benchmark® received the prestigious NorFishing Innovation award and we continue to innovate through our development team who investigate further applications and alternative implementations of the technology.

It is a commercially and environmentally secure solution in the fight against parasitic infestations and the first system of its kind to be used in aquaculture.

CleanTreat® is a transformative step for the industry whilst helping to support the environmentally responsible growth of the aquaculture industry.

The sea lice treatment is performed within a wellboat. After the treatment, the fish are separated from the treatment water and rinsed in clean sea water prior to their return to the sea pen. The treatment water and rinsing water are retained on the wellboat for transfer to one of our CleanTreat systems. Once all fish have been returned to their pen, the treatment water is transferred to a vessel containing the CleanTreat system where the CleanTreat process begins.

1. The first step is to remove the organic material through a two-step filtration process which collects material such as lice and their egg strings. Preventing this material from entering the environment helps prevent resistance development.
2. The next step is to remove the medicine, which do so through a series of steps monitored by our on-board laboratory. The laboratory, operated by our trained analysts monitor between each stage and ensure that the ultimate discharge is compliant with the regulations.
3. Finally, the purified water is released through our UV unit as part of our biosecurity controls, a critical consideration of our operation.