Oxygenation in fish farms and hatcheries using Oxyflow®

by Henning Gatz, President of Aquacare Environment Inc.

One of the key process technologies required for intensive fish farming is dissolving oxygen gas into the farm water. There are many technologies available to accomplish this, ranging from simple low head oxygenators (LHO) to very elaborate, multi‐stage processes operating at elevated pressures and controlled by computers.
 

What the commercial fish farmer really wants and needs is a simple, reliable process for dissolving oxygen gas into the water that does not cost more than necessary and can be maintained by farm personnel without a huge time requirement. Above all it needs to be reliable, even during disruptive events like power failures.

In 2010, JLH Consulting and Aquacare began an initiative to lower the cost of land‐ based intensive fish farming operations. This initiative focused on two of the largest cost factors: pumping head and oxygenation. The pumping head has now been reduced by several meters by lowering the biofilter and CO2 strippers to a level where gravity can supply them, and only pumping clean filtered water back to the fish tanks with high flow, low head pumps. This reduction in pumping head led to another challenge: oxygenation with lower head.

In 2012, we had the good fortune to meet the people at France Oxygenation (FOX) who have developed and market a simple, reliable and efficient oxygen saturator under the name of Oxyflow®. Upon closer examination, this unit process technology was exactly what we were seeking to lower the cost of dissolving large amounts of oxygen into the fish farm water, reliably and efficiently.

FOX was established as a specialist oxygenation technology company in 2005, after founder Bohumil Sevic developed the technology in 1977 as a research engineer for Air Liquide in France. He was able to retain the IP after leaving Air Liquide. Since then Mr Sevic has continued to refine and evolve the technology to where it is today.

Read more HERE.

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