THE PROJECT
DabieHatchery , Poland is the largest Salmon hatchery in the Eastern Europe supplying quality salmon eggs to entire Eastern European region. The hatchery run by highly experienced and renown experts in the field, has large production facilities comprising RAS system for the treatment of the recycled water to remove excess ammonia and other by products which otherwise are harmful to the fish eggs.
THE PROBLEM - Ammonia Removal for Aquaculture
- Due to their penchant towards improving the Salmon egg quality and improving the finished product quality, Dabie had been looking for an optimal carrier for their RAS system which removes various nitrogen species from the recycled water to much finer levels.
- Normally, Ammonia > 1 ppm and Nitrite (NO2.N) > 0.5 ppm are extremely toxic to the fish and reduce their quality production due to higher mortality rates and deformities in the grown fish.
THE PILOT TRIALS
In order to assess the removal efficiencies of different carriers and to obtain kinetics parameters for the design, a continuous pilot trials with different carrier material was conducted at the site. A parallel bank of pilot plant was constructed at site which was fed with the recycle water having different carrier material in it.
THE RESULTS
- Each pilot with different carrier material was fed with pre treated and pre aerated recycle water which was then analyzed for its Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate Nitrogen removal efficiencies on grab samples collected weekly
- The results indicated that Levapor carriers based biofilters outperformed conventional PE , PU foam and Ceramics carriers based biofilters for the removal of Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate Nitrogen.
FULL SCALE IMPLEMENTATION
- Dabie Hatchery has initiated replacement of their existing RAS system’s PE carriers with Levapor carriers. The implication of better Ammonia removal and reduction in toxicity with Levapor carriers supported RAS system are quite encouraging. Even an independent review by Hatchery international has noticed that the Fish quality and gill texture and shape of the fish has improved quite a lot after implementing new carriers for the RAS system.
BENEFITS OF LEVAPOR SUPPORTED RAS BIOFILTER AT DABIE HATCHERY ARE
- Highest removal of Ammonia and Nitrite Nitrogen
- Drastic reduction in the toxicity to fish due to lowest levels of Nitrogen species in the recycle water
- Better fish quality due to healthier growth conditions available
Amit Christian is a MSc graduate in Environment Science from Middlesex University, London, UK. He has been active in the field of water and wastewater treatment since 1998. He specializes in design, engineering, and management of various biological wastewater treatments such as Activated Sludge Process (ASP), Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR), Moving Bed Bio Reactor (MBBR), Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS). He has helped various Industrial and Municipal clients in troubleshooting , optimizing their biological wastewater treatment processes to achieve latest Stringent norms for Ammonia Removal.
