The facility includes 144 clear-water primary research tanks, 36 Biofloc primary research tanks,16 nursery tanks, as well as Animal Health & Water Quality and Shrimp Feed laboratories.
The research center, which is pushing the boundaries of shrimp production, contains two commercial scale Tidal Basin™ lines. The tru Shrimp™ Systems Research Center is also featured on the company website www.trushrimpsystems.com.
The center has been ramping up for several weeks and is supported by a staff of eight technicians who are overseen by renowned shrimp expert and Chief Technical Officer, Dr Addison Lawrence.
The bio-secure facility currently houses 390,000 shrimp and is capable of supporting more than 1,000,000 shrimp at capacity.
A primary focus of the research center is scaling up Dr Lawrence’s patented Tidal Basin™ technology, formerly referred to as super-intensive raceway systems. The research phase of the Tidal Basin™ technology is the final step before construction of the first multi-million lb/year shrimp production facility.
For Dr Lawrence, the research center is a continuation of his personal pursuit to develop better technology to feed the world.
“If you want to be a leader, and if you want to do something for mankind and really do it the best you need technology. That has been at the forefront of the United States,” Dr Lawrence said.
“In order for tru Shrimp™ Systems to remain the leader of the shrimp industry, and for us to further optimize the tru Shrimp™ System, we have to further optimize the technology. The technology is completely adequate for commercialization today, but we are far from optimization. We need to create new technology for mankind that will decrease the cost of shrimp production, and increase the quality of shrimp that we are producing at the same time. This research center is critical for us to develop the full potential of shrimp.”
The research center is staffed daily and is also available for contract research. Prebiotics, probiotic, other shrimp nutrition ingredients or new feed manufacturing processes can be tested by the foremost shrimp nutritionist and expert on shrimp production in the world.
The research environment is a consistent 86°F (30°C) and 50 per cent humidity. The 144 clear-water research tanks are designed for 11 inches of water depth with variable aeration and salinity. Tanks have individual feeders. The center also has 36 Biofloc tanks with variable aeration, salinity and individual feeders.
All sizes of Litopenaeus vannamei species of Asian White Shrimp from PL 10-12 can undergo research within the facility. Water Quality and Animal Health labs are on site. Research design services and analysis services are also available.
tru Shrimp™ Systems General Manager Michael Ziebell said the research center is a reflection of the expert care and consideration the company is taking to successfully scale up Tidal Basin™ technology for commercial production.
“We are going about the commercialization of the Tidal Basin™ technology that Professor Lawrence started at Texas A&M University in a very methodical way. I want to stress that we are doing this right,” Mr Ziebell said.
“We so believe in this technology that our first investment is in a research center in Balaton, MN. The center contains the first scaled-up commercial versions of a Tidal Basin™ and we are taking what Professor Lawrence learned at Texas A&M University and we have scaled it up in both size and length to confirm everything that he has learned. We have no reservations that this can be done but we are going to test it and we are going to conduct research so that when we provide this to the world as a tr? Shrimp™ System it will be backed up by extensive research.”
