Farm AirClean

Biological Air Cleaning for Pig Production

Farm AirClean

he demands made on the agricultural sector are constantly increased, and there is high emphasis
on reducing environmental impact.
Especially emissions of ammonia and
odours should be reduced and pig producers are constantly met with restrictions when establishing and expanding
farm facilities.
Likewise, several countries have requirements 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 restrictions from authorities, SKOV has
developed Farm AirClean, a system for
biological air cleaning.
Natural air cleaning with
microorganisms
There 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
2

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 ammonia, 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 supplier
Farm AirClean is a natural part of SKOV's

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 cleaning 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

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 - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION

DID YOU KNOW:

Farm AirClean reduces

the ammonia content in
livestock house air
down to 1 ppm.

Water

Water

Ammonia
Odour of pig
Dust

CO2
The smell of wet forest floor

Air

Air

Ammonium
Nitrite/nitrate
Organic material
Residual products
can be spread together with the slurry

BIO Flex
B

IO Flex has been developed based

on the principle of "air cleaning by
the metre". The system is very flexible, and the farmer can optimise investment and operating expenses in relation
to current requirements from authorities.
Furthermore, the requirement for manual 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 flexibility
BIO Flex is a biological air cleaning system of a 2 or 3 step biological trickling
filter type.

In areas where regulatory requirements

are in place (Germany), it is possible
to implement a pH stabilisation of the
cleaning process.
Minimum maintenance
Emphasis 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 maintenance.
In addition to this the utilisation of the
filter area in the air cleaner is optimised

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

2

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

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION

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.

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 distribution plate works with the automatic
washing robot to ensure that the pressure loss through the filters is always as
low as possible. This way, the operating
expenses for ventilation have been minimised compared to other filter-based air
cleaning systems.
Control and monitoring
A DOL 356 air cleaning computer ensures optimum air cleaning at minimum
resource consumption. Operating data is
collected and displayed by the FarmOnline management system. Data documentation via FarmOnline meets the
requirements of the international VERA
protocol.

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION

BIO Module

KOV has developed the modulebased air cleaning system

BIO Module consisting of prefabricated 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 capacities 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 implement
By basing the system on modules,
SKOV has made it easy for the pig producer 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 solutions
available on the market, this solution can
be delivered assembled or for assembly
on site.

If the air cleaning modules are to be installed in the attic, on-site assembly can
save the producer the time of removing
large parts of the roofing sheets when
carrying out the installation.
Experience has shown that it is important to keep the filters clean. Due to this
we have developed an automatic filter
cleaner for the air cleaning units, minimising daily maintenance.
DOL 256 controller
Each module is equipped with a
DOL 256 AirClean computer that regulates the air cleaning process of the
module in question. The decentralized
control system ensures optimum cleaning 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-

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION

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.

Husdyrbrug nr. 47 September 2007

Konstant renseeffektivitet
I en kemisk luftvasker renses luften
med forsuret vand, der absorberer 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 renseeffektivitet.

For en luftrenser med konstant renseeffektivitet er reduktion af ammoniakemissionen uafhngig af staldsystemet, dvs. om der er tale om en
stald med drnet gulv eller med delvist spaltegulv.
100
Reduktion
emission,%
%
Reduktion af
afNH3
NH3 emission,

Renseeffektivitet
Luftvaskere 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.

80
Renseeffektivitet 95%

60
40

Renseeffektivitet 50%

20

0
Protect the environment
and save money

that is always running in a MultiStep

Den
strste
renseeffekt
opns
ved
system.
Thereafter
we connect
additional
rensning
opairtilcleaner,
ca. 20%
ventilaoutlets toafthe
untilafreaching
tionskapaciteten,
idet
rensning
af en
the ammonia reduction required by
strre
andel kun resulterer i en marauthorities.
ginal
reduktion
af ammoniakemissioWith partial cleaning,
the system is not
nen.
dimensioned for cleaning all the outgoing air in a livestock house, but approximately 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.

20

40

60

80

100

Luftandel gennem renser, %

Figur 2. Reduktion af ammoniakemissionen som funktion af kapacitet for en luftrenser med03-07-2007
henholdsvis hj og lav renseeffektivitet.

Figur_3_og_4.xls / Alle_95_50%_20C

100
Reduktion af
Reduktion
afNH3
NH3 emission,
emission, %
%

Reduction of NH3 emissions, %

Af figur 2 ses, at der med en luftrenser med en renseeffektivitet p 95%

kun er behov for en luftrenser med
en kapacitet p ca. 10% af ventilationskapaciteten for at opn en reduktionf the
i ammoniakemissionen
pproducer
40%.
requirements for the pig
Detstates
svarer
tilammonia
det strste
reduktionsthat
emissions
need to
kravbegldende
for
slagtesvinestalde
limited, partial cleaning can be an
med
drnet gulv ved ansgning om
option.
miljgodkendelse
i 2009.
2.
As can be seen in the
graph,Se
thetabel
largest
Renseeffektiviteten
har
dog enisbetyreduction in ammonia
emissions
delig
indflydelse,
idet
en
reached during the first 20% luftvasker,
of the air
der
kun sent
kan through
fjerne the
50%
ammovolume
air af
cleaning
niakken,
ndvendiggr
at
ca.
30%
system, while the last 80% do not reduce
afthe
ventilationskapaciteten
kan manledes
ammonia content in a similar
gennem
luftrenseren
for
at
opn
en
ner.
tilsvarende
af ammoniakeBecause of reduktion
this, SKOV bases
the system
missionen.
on cleaning the air of the variable outlet

Final concentration 1 ppm

Slutkoncentration1ppm
Endkonzentration
1 ppm

80

Slutkoncentration 2 ppm

60

1/3 drained_1ppm
1/3
drnet_1ppm
25-49% solid_1ppm
25-49%fast_1ppm
1/3 drained_2
ppm
1/3
drnet_2ppm
25-49% solid_2 ppm
25-49%fast_2ppm

Final concentration 2 ppm

Endkonzentration 2 ppm

40
20
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

Luftandel
gennemair
renser,
%%
Air ratio through
cleaner,
Figur 3. Effekt p reduktion af ammoniakemission af luftandel gennem en luftrenser 03-07-2007
med
slutkoncentration p henholdsvis 1 og 2 ppm.

Figur_3_og_4.xls / Alle_1_2ppm

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.)

FARM AIRCLEAN - BIOLOGICAL AIR CLEANING FOR PIG PRODUCTION

DA 201410

SKOV A/S
Hedelund 4 DK-7870 Roslev
T: (+45) 7217 5555

Dealer

SKOV Asia Ltd.

PB Tower TH-10110 Bangkok
T: (+66) 2 382 3031-2
www.skov.com

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