EVVEN (Equipo de Valor de Venezuela) C.A.

A joint venture between ARNE EBERMANN, GREG VITKO, and the FUNDACIÓN LA SALLE DE CIENCIAS (FLASA). www.fundacionlasalle.org.ve, www.edimar.org to build a super-intensive shrimp aquaculture facility on Margarita Island, Venezuela.  After over two years of having researched and revised possible avenues to produce chitin and chitosan from shrimp shells and a highly mineralized fertilizer from the shrimp waste.

By making use of every part of the shrimp and creating a vertically integrated industry, this environmentally clean and efficient operation will produce shrimp and valuable by-products—chitin and chitosan plus a highly mineralized fertilizer in a novel and creative fashion. The initial end products of EVVEN's vertically integrated shrimp industry will be packaged fresh-frozen peeled shrimp and mineral-rich fertilizer. The long-term profitability of the facility lies in its by-product, the chitin, extracted from the shrimp shells peeled from the shrimp. Thus making EVVEN C.A. a innovative, novel development Project which produces jobs and a healthy and high return on Investment in a researched and revised manner. Using every part of the shrimp and creating a vertically integrated industry, EVVEN will attain profits unheard of in the shrimp business without releasing the kind of effluents.  The initial end products of EVVEN's vertically integrated, novel and resourceful aqua-culture will be peeled shrimp, chitin and a highly mineral-rich fertilizer. The shrimp shells peeled from the shrimp are the real key to the long-term profitability of the facility. These shells are about 45% chitin, yielding a rich source of this important raw material. Chitin is a natural polymer with an increasing number of creative applications.