A more energy efficient way to aerate your aquaculture farms

Oxygen is vital to raise and support aquatic life. But oxygen solubility is greatly impacted by the temperature of the water. For example, oxygen solubility at 0° C is about 14.6 ppm, and solubility at 40° C is 6.4 ppm. This makes running an aquaculture farm in the Middle East challenging because of the extreme heat.

Aeration techniques that raise the levels of oxygen saturation throughout a body of water – solve this problem. But they are energy intensive. 

We recommend using oil-free air blowers with your diffuser devices to release bubbles of oxygen into your aquaculture farms.

You should use an air blower instead of an air compressor because air blowers are designed to provide large volumes of air at lower pressures (less than 1 bar). Aeration techniques don’t require high pressures so any compression that occurs above the actual demand is a waste of energy.

Installing an air blower has multiple use-cases in the context of aquaculture farming.

Air blowers can create bubble curtains to protect your aquaculture farm. A bubble curtain is a stream of bubbles around a pen that prevents jellyfish and sea lice from passing through. Our air blowers guarantee a high uptime which is necessary for the bubble curtain to be effective.

Air blowers can create bubble curtains to protect your aquaculture farm. A bubble curtain is a stream of bubbles around a pen that prevents jellyfish and sea lice from passing through. Our air blowers guarantee a high uptime which is necessary for the bubble curtain to be effective.

Air blowers allow you to devise a pressure system for loading and unloading live fish. It’s a gentle and efficient way of transporting live fish. And it minimizes handling time which is better for the welfare of your aquaculture population. Our compact air blower solutions are an ideal fit if you are looking to save space when working in confined spaces such as boats.

Air blowers are useful because they allow you to supply a fast and constant stream of bubbles into a special collector at the bottom of a cage that will bring dead fish up and into your boat. Dead fish can pose a threat to the health of your population and decrease your operational efficiency, so it is important that they are removed as soon as possible.

Air blowers combine well with diffuser devices to aerate water from the bottom up. The principle of aeration is used to maintain the right oxygen levels as well as provide water circulation, thermoregulation, biological treatment, freeze protection in cold weather conditions and reduce temperature induced stress among the stock. 

We recommend investing in a rotary lobe air blower or a centrifugal air blower. For each use of the air blowers within the fish farming it calls for the most efficient & reliable blower to operate. Typically rotary lobe air blowers are commonly used pressure up to 0.4 bar and below and flows below 500m3/h.

For flow’s beyond 500 m3/h till 5000 m3/h screw blowers are more efficient and reliable using the benefit of internal compression with a direct gear driven design that can bring up to 30% savings compared with lobe blowers when the operating pressure is exceeds 0.5 barg bringing more savings as the pressure increases up till 1.5 barg .

High speed turbo blowers with VFD on board and magnetic bearings are the most effect technology for pressures up to 1.5 barg and flow till 10,000 m3/h with very wide turn down and fast response to any change in demand with the lowest total cost of ownership and least amount of maintenance interventions.

It’s up to the user to identify the air flow volume and pressure required for the aquaculture project. Speaking with the Air Blower manufacturer will be helpful in selection of the most suitable technology considering the cost of ownership.

Compressed air applications within the aquaculture industry require a high uptime with variable air flow requirements. Blowers equipped with variable speed drives can help meet such requirements ensuring the pressure is maintained by varying the air flow.

Variable speed drives can vary the speed of a normally fixed-speed motor to perfectly match the air flow and air pressure demands of your application at any given time.

Installing the right air blower with VSD+ technology into your aeration systems will give you air purity levels of above 95% and save up to 35% on your energy costs.

To learn more about our VSD technology and browse our range of air blowers click here, or talk to our product specialist for more information.