Eskja has  operated  a fishmeal factory since 1952.   The factory today is one of the best equipped factories in Iceland, with a capacity to process over 1000 tons per day.   The factory has Hetland indirect hot air driers.  Main products being; LT meal, NSM meal  and Standard meal. 

Eskja is one of the biggest producers of fishmeal in Iceland.  With a strategic location on the east cost of Iceland, good supply of raw material, well equipped factory and very experienced production team we have been able to maintain high quality standards in our production.   Most of our customers have been regular buyers for many years.

We run a small laboratory in the factory where we analyze the raw material (freshness) and final products.  High quality standards are one of our key objectives in the production process.

Production over the past five years (in tons);

Products	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000
Fishmeal	32.700	34.000	34.400	35.500	31.000
Fish oil	7.500	9.800	12.000	10.000	10.000

The production process can be divided into several stages:

Intake

• Raw material is stored in tanks to prepare for sampling and production.
  

Cooking

• Raw material goes through steam heated cooker where it is heated up to 95°C for sterilization and to coagulate the proteins to ease the separation of the solubles and the oil from the dry matter.

Pressing

• The cooked raw material is than moved to a screw press where the liquid is pressed out to form a cake which is conveyed to the driers.
  

Separation

• Press liquid (water and oil) is fed to separators where the oil is removed and is then stored in storage tanks.  Other particles (protein, salt etc) are removed in a decanter and fed to the drier and mixed in with the press cake. 
  

Evaporation

• The liquid (water) from the separators is moved to the evaporators where it is concentrated before being blended with the press cake in the drying process.

Drying

• Liquid (water) is moved from the press cake by concentrated air drying. 

Cooling

• The fishmeal is very hot when the drying process is completed; it is then cooled down in a specialized cooler before being stored.

Storing

• The meal is stored in large tanks (1000 tons each) mainly, but also kept in metal cases (2 tons each) or in specialized sacks. 

Product specifications can be obtained by selecting the Product category on the this website. 

 Production manager is Haukur Jónsson.

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