Ten years ago, Benchmark set out to develop a water purification system which could be used alongside medicinal bath treatments, to prevent the release of the medicine into the environment. We wanted to play our part in championing sustainability and supporting the global aquaculture sector’s drive to reduce environmental risk.

We recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the commercial deployment of CleanTreat^®, Benchmark’s water purification system which works by removing medicines from treatment water before safely returning purified water into the sea. CleanTreat® enables the use of efficacious and high welfare medicines in an environmentally responsible manner. To mark this important milestone, I am taking a moment to reflect on our progress to date.  

Environmental responsibility was a core aim when we set out to develop this new system, working alongside the research and development of our new sea lice medicines. Sea lice is not only a major risk towards fish welfare, it also costs the industry approximately $1bn annually.

CleanTreat is currently used in conjunction with Ectosan^® Vet, a veterinary medicine for the treatment of pre-adult and adult salmon lice infestations on Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout. In all types of farming, medicines are a crucial element of welfare, aiming to keep every animal in the best health possible. Here, CleanTreat^® acts as an enabler for medicinal treatments, allowing the medicine to be used in an environmentally sustainable manner by removing the medicine from the treatment water after the treatment of the fish. The system also separates organic matter from the water through the use of a mechanical filtration process which removes and collects sea lice, egg strings, fish scales and faecal matter. Removal of each stage of the parasitic life cycle is recognised to be an essential step in combating parasitic resistance to medicines. Tackling medicine resistance is good practice in sea lice management, as well as being beneficial for fish welfare. 

It is a common misconception that CleanTreat^® is a lice treatment; however, this is not true. CleanTreat^® cleans and purifies the treatment water – not the fish. Figure 1 above details the process, and you can learn more about the system here.

Since its commercial launch last August 2021, the CleanTreat^® system has purified over 774,000m³ of treatment water, preventing over 15,400kg of medicine from entering the environment. To date, we have worked with 10 salmon producers in Norway and 6 different wellboats. Our development has not stopped since its launch and will continue to meet existing and new challenges. Over the past year, we have been working closely with customers to further increase the efficiency of the CleanTreat^® system. Through close collaboration, we have been able to achieve a 26% increase in the average tonnes of fish treated per day. Read our recent press release to learn more about how we have optimised processes to make treatments as efficient as possible for customers.

When I look back, we have achieved an enormous amount in our first year of deployment:

• We received a score of ‘zero’ – the best score possible from the aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).
• We were a finalist in the Aquaculture Awards for the Welfare category, recognising the importance of animal welfare in Benchmark’s innovative solution.
• We hired a whole host of new team members in our CleanTreat^® operations team, bringing a great deal of maritime industry knowledge and playing a key role in ensuring our superior operations in the field. We have also hired project engineers, who are dedicated to continual system developments.
• We are currently trialling the use of CleanTreat^® with further medicines, with the aim of enhancing and improving the toolbox available to the aquaculture industry.
• We are investigating the potential to integrate CleanTreat^® directly onto wellboats to further increase treatment flexibility for our customers
• Now more than ever, technology and innovation is needed to strengthen and improve the aquaculture industry.On future CleanTreat^®anniversaries, I hope I can re-visit this blog, and write about how we have applied our ground-breaking technology and the lessons learnt from CleanTreat^®to solve other challenges within the industry.