Italian maker Tecma from Thetford Marine provides a wide line of ceramic toilets for commercial vessels across a number of fisheries. Their trademark turbine macerating pump is a quiet, clog-proof evacuation system.

Richard Brunson, Thetford Marine’s U.S. field sales manager, said the proprietary pump creates a 200-mph vortex that liquefies waste.

“The technology is that we liquefy everything, so you don’t have any clogging issues. Whereas other centrifugals, they just try to grind everything up. But then you have lot of large bits; they don’t emulsify to a liquid. Then you get clogging downstream,” Brunson said.

The high-pressure turbine pumps can pump waste over 30 feet vertically and 270 feet horizontally, outperforming traditional centrifugal pumps with low to medium pressure.

“We’re the only ones in this industry that use this patented high-pressure turbine pump. Say if you’re low in a boat and you want to pump up 25 or 30 feet, the competition can’t do that,” Brunson said, adding the technology has come in handy for processors where crew quarters are added down low and waste is pumped up to the next deck.

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Brian Hagenbuch is National Fisherman's products editor, a contributing editor to SeafoodSource and a Bristol Bay fisherman. He is based in Seattle.

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