RAS DESIGN INNOVATIONS & OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES:

LINKING RAS AND AQUAPONICS FOR REDUCED EFFLUENT DISCHARGE

Thomas M. Losordo, PhD
Principal Scientist & Chief Engineer
Aquaculture Systems Engineering
Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems, Raleigh,
NC
Huy Tran
Aquaponics Development Manager
Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems
Apopka, FL

They Started with a Brewery Built in the 1890s

The Historic Business and Landmark had fallen into Disrepair

PENTAIR

Goals for this Project

Create a Fish and Plant Production Systems within the City
Existing Building Provides Advantages of Lower Capital Costs & Subsidies for Redevelopment

Create a System that Produces Fish and Plants at Rates to meet our Market Demand

Making Abandoned This

Into Productive This

Take Unproductive Urban Structures and Make I Productive Again

PENTAIR

Blending RAS and AquaPonics:: Engineering Flexibility Into Fish & Plant ProductionPlant

Started by Adding Infrastructure

Updated and Modern Access

A New Well for a Consistent

Source of High Quality Water
with High Alkalinity

Dependable Power with a

Favorable Rate Structure

Newly Added Water, Power and Site Access

PENTAIR

Blending RAS and AquaPonics:: Engineering Flexibility Into Fish & Plant ProductionPlant

Created the Design: Linked RAS to a Plant Growing System

Designing a system that would fit within the walls and between the columns
PENTAIR

Design Detail: 12.5 m3 tanks with EcoTrap 110 Particle Traps

Each Tank has a EcoTrap 110 Particle

Trap, a Sludge Collector and external
Stand Pipe

Poly-tanks fitted with EcoTraps with Sludge Collectors & External Stand Pipes
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Design Detail: Flow to Drum-Screen & MBBR

MBBR nitrifying capacity for ammonia from 40 kg feed / day

PENTAIR

Design Detail: Water Treatment & Return System

Constant Flow Pumps, UV Filters, Heat Pumps, Oxygen Contactors

PENTAIR

Blending RAS and AquaPonics:: Engineering Flexibility Into Fish & Plant ProductionPlant

Farm Operation

Each Tray is lit with twenty 250-watt T5

Grow Lights, 5500K (cool lamps for
leafy growth) suspended about 0.5 m
above the plants; A total of 300 bulbs
per floor.

Pictured above are the drain lines leading from the

Trays to the Drum Screen Filter or first stage of the
Moving Bed Bio Reactor (MBBR)

Plant receive an optimum level of light yielding optimum growth rates

PENTAIR

Blending RAS and AquaPonics:: Engineering Flexibility Into Fish & Plant ProductionPlant

Farm Operation:
The Stained Water
is also due the
addition of
Chelated Iron

PENTAIR

Water Reuse Systems without Ozone Result in Clear but Stained Water

Farm Operation: Starting Up the Plant Production

Fish
production
from the
facility is
expected to be
23 28 mt per
year

The Link Between the Fish and Plants occurs at the Biofilter
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Farm Operation: Close Proximity of Fish and Plants

Easier water
quality
monitoring and
controls

Higher
productivity/m
2
Labor cost for
multiple crop

Operational Culture Density met the Design Criteria

PENTAIR

Plant Production: From Seedling to Marketable Product

Some of the product

can be harvest as
early as 25 days
(Baby Greens)

PENTAIR

Expected Production from this Facility

Fish
production
from the
facility is
expected to be
23 28 mt per
year
Annual plant
yield of 450
mt of lettuce
and fresh
herbs

PENTAIR

Waste water will be collected in the basement of the building, solids

removed and some water reused

Blending RAS and AquaPonics:: Engineering Flexibility Into Fish & Plant ProductionPlan

Harvesting Plants at Three Levels

A Movable Lift Provides Access to the Plants at Three Levels

PENTAIR

Plant Production from this Facility

Produce are cut and to market in two to three hours

PENTAIR

Acknowledgements
Dave Haider,
Managing Partner
Anthony Johannes
Assistant Manager

Kristen Koontz Haider

Fred Haberman
Christopher Ames

Urban Organics
St. Paul MN
www.urbanorganics.com

Urban Organics, 700 Minnehaha Ave East, St. Paul, Minnesota

PENTAIR

King Abdullah University

of Science & Technology

RAS DESIGN INNOVATIONS & OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES:

THE DESERT AGRICULTURE RESEARCH INITIATIVE (DARI)
Thomas M. Losordo, PhD
Principal Scientist & Chief Engineer
Aquaculture Systems Engineering
Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems, Raleigh,
NC
Huy Tran
Aquaponics Development Manager
Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems
Apopka, FL

King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST)

A Western-style Co-educational Campus for Research
& Graduate Education

A 13 square mile coastal site north of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia

PENTAIR

King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST)

Facilities and Faculty to rival any University in North America

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King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST)

DARI Site at the KAUST Campus

PENTAIR

Desert Agriculture Research Initiative:

The Seawater Green-space Project

PENTAIR

Creating New Technology to Grow Animal Protein and Plants in a Coastal

Environment Using Seawater, Brackish Water, and Minimal Freshwater

Desert Agriculture Research Initiative

Seawater Cooled Greenhouses

LED Nursery

Aquaculture
AquaPonics

4 Hectare Project Site: 12,000 m2 Single Story Facility

PENTAIR

Desert Agriculture Research Initiative:

How does a Project in Saudi Arabia relate to Salmon Culture?
Dr. Nina Fedoroff, DARI Director
Member of the National
Academy of Sciences; Plant
Geneticist & Breeder

Breeding salt tolerance

into valuable food crops

PENTAIR

At some point, if not now, discharge of nutrients from marine aquaculture

will be regulated, limited or prohibited.

Desert Agriculture Research Initiative:

Pentair is excited to partner with KAUST to design and
deliver the Aquaculture and AquaPonics technology for DARI

A facility capable of producing freshwater & saltwater plants and animals

PENTAIR

Desert Agriculture Research Initiative:

Aquaculture and AquaPonics R & D Facilities
Water
Storage

RAS

Nursery

Broodstock

Plant
Growth
Greenhouse

Primary
Waste
Treatment

Aquaculture
Production

A facility capable of concurrently producing freshwater & saltwater crops

PENTAIR

Desert Agriculture Research Initiative:

Aquaculture Lab & Demonstration System

Nursery System
Hatchery
Broodstock
RAS Filter
Technology

Growout System

Nutrition Lab

The research facility is capable of producing 6 tonnes of fish annually

PENTAIR

Aquaculture: Brood-Stock Systems

3 3 Tank Brood-Stock Systems

1 Air-washed bead filter
1 UV Filter
1 Moving Bed Biofilter
1 Heat Pump
3 1.5 m3 Brood-stock tanks

Three Independent RAS Brood-stock Systems

PENTAIR

Aquaculture: Nursery Systems

2 6 Tank Growout Systems
6 4.5 m3 Fibreglass tanks
1 40 micron Drum Screen Filter
1 Moving Bed Biofilter
1 Fixed Bed Bead Filter
1 Ozone Contactor
1 Foam Fractionator
1 Heat Pump

Three Independent RAS Brood-stock Systems

PENTAIR

Aquaculture: Growout Systems

3 4 Tank Growout Systems

4 14.5 m3 Fibreglass tanks

1 40 micron Drum Screen Filter
1 Moving Bed Biofilter
1 Fixed Bed Bead Filter
1 Ozone Contactor
1 Foam Fractionator
1 Heat Pump

Three Independent RAS Brood-stock Systems

PENTAIR

Desert Agriculture Research Initiative:

Aquaculture / AquaPonics Systems
RAS Technology
Water Storage

AquaPonics
Trays

Waste
Storage

Primary
Waste
Treatment

Aquaculture
Production

Capable of operating the aquaculture and aquaponics together or separately

PENTAIR

RAS Linked via Primary Waste Treatment to AquaPonics

RAS Technology

Plant
Troughs

Primary
Waste
Treatment

RAS Waste to Treatment, Treated Effluent to Plant Culture, Sludge Storage

PENTAIR

Primary Waste Treatment Technology

From: www.salsnes-filter.com
Belt Filters provide a proven method of thickening solid waste in aquaculture
PENTAIR

Primary Waste Treatment: Membrane Filter Technology

An MBR is a compact-built
purification system combining
the biological degradation step
with a membrane separation
step.
From:

http://www.x-flow.com

Membrane Bio-Reactors (MBRs) show great promise in treating wastewater.

PENTAIR

AquaPonics Systems Consume Nutrients and Clarify Water

Freshwater or halophytic grown on

Styrofoam boards floating in the trays.
Waste nutrients are removed by root mass
as the water flows through the trays.
With deep trough AquaPonics, bacteria play a large role in nutrient recycling.
PENTAIR

Acknowledgements
Ed Aneshansley
Engineering Manager
Bill Peacock
Senior Designer

Rick Jones
Field Services Engineer
Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems
Beverly MA
www.PentairAES.com

King Abdullah University

of Science & Technology

Dr. Nina Federoff, Director

Desert Agriculture Research
Initiative

Dr. Aftab Alum

Researcher

Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons

Consulting Scientist
King Abdullah University of
Science & Technology

Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems, 2395 Apopka Blvd, Apopka FL 32703

PENTAIR