Farm AirCleanBiological Air Cleaning for Pig Production

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION2

The demands made on the agricul-tural sector are constantly in-creased, and there is high emphasis on reducing environmental impact. Especially emissions of ammonia and odours should be reduced and pig pro-ducers are constantly met with restric-tions when establishing and expanding farm facilities. Likewise, several countries have require-ments regarding the amount of dust emitted, as studies have shown that dust can be a disease carrier and cause respiratory diseases.In order to meet the more rigid re-strictions from authorities, SKOV has developed Farm AirClean, a system for biological air cleaning.

Natural air cleaning with microorganismsThere are several different methods for reducing ammonia emissions, including chemical air cleaning, but biological cleaning is the only method with which both the odour and ammonia contents in the livestock house air are reduced. With Farm AirClean the ammonia content in livestock house air can be reduced down to 1 ppm.Biological air cleaning is a process where the livestock house air is drawn through filters that are sprinkled with water which removes ammonia, dust and odours from the outlet air. A biofilm is created

on the filters by the (effective) bacteria and microorganisms of which there is a natural occurrence in the livestock house air. Some of the bacteria convert ammonia, and other microorganisms live off the odorous substances from the pig house as well as off slurry and dust from e.g. rooting materials and pigs' skin. The water recirculates in the filters and when the filters cannot absorb more am-monia, the water is emptied to the slurry tank and clear water is added to the system. The water that is removed can be diverted to the slurry tank or distributed in the field as fertiliser.

One supplierFarm AirClean is a natural part of SKOV's

In some markets, air cleaning is subject to approval by the authorities. Farm AirClean is patented worldwide, and we have systems in operation all over the world. Farm AirClean is pre-approved and verified in a number of markets.

S-list (Belgium) VERA Certificate DLG Signumtest (DE) Japan RAV list (NL) The Environmental Protection Agency's Technology List (DA)

Farm AirClean

ventilation systems and we can therefore offer our customers an optimised total solution where we can carry out the necessary calculations and put together a system that is carefully adapted to the customer's air cleaning requirements. This also means that we can create an integrated system solution and thus provide the customer with what works best for him. In addition to this, we also know both the ventilation and air clean-ing systems, which allows the customer to get the most out of his system. For the customer this also means that there is only one supplier to deal with and to turn to in relation to service, etc.

Recognised and approved

Air

Water

Air

AmmoniumNitrite/nitrateOrganic material

CO2 The smell of wet forest floor

AmmoniaOdour of pig

Dust

Residual products can be spread to-gether with the slurry

Water

Farm AirClean reduces the ammonia content in livestock house air

down to 1 ppm.

DID YOU KNOW:

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION4

BIO Flex has been developed based on the principle of "air cleaning by the metre". The system is very flexi-ble, and the farmer can optimise invest-ment and operating expenses in relation to current requirements from authorities. Furthermore, the requirement for man-ual cleaning and maintenance has been minimised.BIO Flex is especially well suited for large air cleaning systems in connection with central channel and wall exhaust.

Great flexibilityBIO Flex is a biological air cleaning sys-tem of a 2 or 3 step biological trickling filter type.

BIO Flex is characterised by:

Capacity from 10 000 to 360 000 m3/hour with the same control system

Length of the system ranging from 2 to 50 metres

Biological air cleaning

Optimum investment in relation to the regulatory requirements

Different levels of odour reduction (two or three filters)

Sturdy and reliable construction that requires minimum maintenance

In areas where regulatory requirements are in place (Germany), it is possible to implement a pH stabilisation of the cleaning process.

Minimum maintenanceEmphasis has been put on the pig producer using the least possible time on cleaning and maintaining the system. BIO Flex comes with a patent pending washing robot (PA 2010 00201). The washing robot has a sturdy and reliable construction that minimises daily main-tenance.In addition to this the utilisation of the filter area in the air cleaner is optimised

BIO Flex

1

2

using an air distribution plate. This way the conditions for our bacteria have been improved significantly. This makes it easier for the bacteria to convert the odorants and the ammonia content in the housing air - and thus obtain the maximum cleaning effect.

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION 5

Low energy consumption BIO Flex is characterised by air cleaning through large filter areas, resulting in low pressure loss.The dust reducing function in the air dis-tribution plate works with the automatic washing robot to ensure that the pres-sure loss through the filters is always as low as possible. This way, the operating expenses for ventilation have been mini-mised compared to other filter-based air cleaning systems. Control and monitoringA DOL 356 air cleaning computer en-sures optimum air cleaning at minimum resource consumption. Operating data is collected and displayed by the FarmOn-line management system. Data docu-mentation via FarmOnline meets the requirements of the international VERA protocol.

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION6

BIO Module

SKOV has developed the module- based air cleaning system BIO Module consisting of prefabri-cated air cleaning units of high quality. The system is very reliable and at the same time the prefabricated units lower production and installation costs.

The cleaning units are available in capac-ities ranging from 10 000 to 40 000 cubic metres per hour. For example, the BIO 3U can clean 30 000 m3 air per hour, which under Danish conditions equals approx 300 finishers. Calculation is based on approx 100 m3 air per pig and hour.

Easy to implementBy basing the system on modules,SKOV has made it easy for the pig pro-ducer to implement the system in the facilities.The cleaning modules can be placed in the attic, next to the livestock house or in a cleaning room inside the house.In contrast to other module solutionsavailable on the market, this solution can be delivered assembled or for assembly on site.

If the air cleaning modules are to be in-stalled in the attic, on-site assembly cansave the producer the time of removinglarge parts of the roofing sheets when carrying out the installation.

Experience has shown that it is impor-tant to keep the filters clean. Due to this we have developed an automatic filter cleaner for the air cleaning units, mini-mising daily maintenance.

DOL 256 controllerEach module is equipped with a DOL 256 AirClean computer that reg-ulates the air cleaning process of the module in question. The decentralized control system ensures optimum clean-ing of the individual section based on the actual requirement.The controller is very simple and only contains the most necessary functions and data such as information regarding whether the control is active or not, that the filter washer is active, as well as an overview of important data such as water consumption and oper-

ation time. This data can also be shown in a 24-hour report or a year-to-date report. Likewise, alarms are displayed, if any.

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION 7

Endkonzentration 2 ppm

Endkonzentration 1 ppm

If the requirements for the pig producer states that ammonia emissions need to be limited, partial cleaning can be an option.As can be seen in the graph, the largestreduction in ammonia emissions is reached during the first 20% of the air volume sent through the air cleaning system, while the last 80% do not reduce the ammonia content in a similar man-ner.Because of this, SKOV bases the system on cleaning the air of the variable outlet that is always running in a MultiStep system. Thereafter we connect additional outlets to the air cleaner, until reaching the ammonia reduction required by authorities.With partial cleaning, the system is notdimensioned for cleaning all the outgo-ing air in a livestock house, but approxi-mately 20% of the maximum air amount.This way smaller filters can be used and smaller amounts of air are moved.This makes the investment smaller and reduces operating costs.

RenseeffektivitetLuftvaskere kan groft sagt deles i to kategorier: kemiske og biologiske. De kemiske har typisk en konstant renseeffektivitet, mens de biologiske typisk renser luften til en konstant slutkoncentration.

Konstant renseeffektivitetI en kemisk luftvasker renses luften med forsuret vand, der absorbe-rer ammoniakken. Det er typisk for denne type renser, at den fjerner en procentdel af ammoniakindholdet i luften.

I simuleringerne har vi regnet med en reduktionsprocent p henholdsvis 95 og 50% som udtryk for en luftvasker med henholdsvis hj og lav renseef-fektivitet.

Af figur 2 ses, at der med en luftren-ser med en renseeffektivitet p 95% kun er behov for en luftrenser med en kapacitet p ca. 10% af ventilati-onskapaciteten for at opn en reduk-tion i ammoniakemissionen p 40%. Det svarer til det strste reduktions-krav gldende for slagtesvinestalde med drnet gulv ved ansgning om miljgodkendelse i 2009. Se tabel 2. Renseeffektiviteten har dog en bety-delig indflydelse, idet en luftvasker, der kun kan fjerne 50% af ammo-niakken, ndvendiggr at ca. 30% af ventilationskapaciteten kan ledes gennem luftrenseren for at opn en tilsvarende reduktion af ammoniake-missionen.

Den strste renseeffekt opns ved rensning af op til ca. 20% af ventila-tionskapaciteten, idet rensning af en strre andel kun resulterer i en mar-ginal reduktion af ammoniakemissio-nen.

For en luftrenser med konstant ren-seeffektivitet er reduktion af ammo-niakemissionen uafhngig af stald-systemet, dvs. om der er tale om en stald med drnet gulv eller med del-vist spaltegulv.

Husdyrbrug nr. 47 September 20074

Figur 2. Reduktion af ammoniakemissionen som funktion af kapacitet for en luftrenser med henholdsvis hj og lav renseeffektivitet.

Figur 3. Effekt p reduktion af ammoniakemission af luftandel gennem en luftrenser med slutkoncentration p henholdsvis 1 og 2 ppm.

Figur_3_og_4.xls / Alle_1_2ppm 03-07-2007

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Slutkoncentration 2 ppm

Figur_3_og_4.xls / Alle_95_50%_20C 03-07-2007

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When reducing ammonia using an air cleaner, the final concentration of ammonia is at 1 and 2 ppm, respectively. (Source: "Grn Viden" no. 47/2007: Partial cleaning of ammonia in livestock houses, DJF Husdyrbrug.)

Final concentration 1 ppm

1/3 drained_1ppm25-49% solid_1ppm1/3 drained_2 ppm25-49% solid_2 ppm

Protect the environment and save money

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201410

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SKOV Asia Ltd.PB Tower TH-10110 BangkokT: (+66) 2 382 3031-2

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