Huet: Air washing and energy recovery
The first Big Dutchman Porcus air scrubber to be installed in France in 2018.
In 2017, Phillippe Huet contacted Big Dutchman as he had the intention to build a new piglet house. His farm is located in Plousannne, France and home to 400 sows. Phillippe was an existing customer of Big Dutchman for feeding and at the time used Fancom ventilation. As part of the negotiations, Big Dutchman made an offer for a complete system with diffused air. Using a Heraklid ventilation ceiling as air inlet, the system is controlled by the Big Dutchman MC 309 ventilation computer with Dynamic Air sensors. Initially wind influence created some challenges, but these were quickly eliminated through the advice of climate specialist Frans Lemans. Now it works perfectly!
Air washing and energy recovery
Permitting required that air scrubbing was needed for the new house and at the time, Phillippe had the intention to source a system locally. However, part of the decision process was that the Big Dutchman team invited Phillippe to visit the Netherlands to see examples of certified Dutch air scrubbers designed and built by partner company Inno+. Apart from seeing examples of modular air scrubbers at Martin van Kempens farm, they also visited a farm owned by Joost van den Broek. On this site, the system not only cleans air but also uses a technology called Triple EEE to recover energy. With an energy conversion of COP 77 (1 kW electricity to recover 77kW of thermal heat from warm water), this becomes a very cheap way to get warm air during cold periods, providing optimal climate for the animals through the winter.
After the visit, the initial thoughts to install a simpler local manually operated air scrubber system changed and the decision was to go with the Big Dutchman Porcus. This is a biological air scrubber module that was designed to clean a maximum air capacity of 50,000m3/h air for five compartments of 320 piglets. The system uses bacteria grown in the wash water to reduce ammonia, odour and dust to the level set out in the Dutch BWL2008.01.V3 certificate. A big benefit of this system is that it is built and fully tested in the factory before being shipped to location. The installation is then very virtually plug and play and can therefore be completed very fast. In this case, the system was installed, commissioned and the local team was trained within two days.
Self-regulation and low maintenance
Another important deciding factor for choosing the Porcus, was its ability to self-regulate. Maintaining nitrogen concentrations and PH levels that ensure wash water quality. This is important for system performance and to maintain a level of air cleaning that meets the regulations set out in the permitting. During the periodic checks over the last two years, the system has been running well and continues to perform at the levels expected.
With more basic air scrubbers that usually consist of very basic components such as a filter package, sprayer, pump with an on off switch, ongoing performance usually becomes a problem, due to lack of self-regulation and poor maintenance. The other benefit from the Porcus system’s ability to self-monitor means low maintenance for the farmer and his staff. Wastewater is also managed automatically, being sent to a storage tank when concentration levels rise and is replaced with fresh water when necessary.
Since the system was installed in the summer of 2018, our engineers have had to change one PH sensor, and visited one time to add foam reduction additive. Cleaning by hosing the washing table down, takes approximately 1 hour each month to ensure best performance.
Learn more about Porcus air washers and Inno+
The Porcus range of air scrubbers are specifically designed for ease of transport and installation around the world. This is beneficial in countries where permitting authorities are trying to establish a benchmark for air cleaning on Pig farms. The Big Dutchman group can deliver a product with 18 years development, testing, certification and proven experience behind it.
Are you curious about the possibilities of our Porcus Air Scrubbers? Fill out the form below or contact us: 31(0)77 – 4657360
