Page 12 - National Poultry Newspaper

AJ Bush upgrades for safer improved operating efficiencies and reduced odours
AJ Bush & Sons (Man- ufactures) are one of Australia’s largest east coast protein recovery provider operating ren- dering and manufactur- ing plants in NSW and Queensland.
AJ Bush’s Riverstone plant has undergone nu- merous upgrades over the years, aligning with com- pany goals of minimising waste, reducing the risk of pollution and odour, and continuous improve- ment in providing a safe work environment for em- ployees.
tors can attend to mainte- nance from – and keep the aeration system at peak operational efficiency.
and reduce maintenance and operating costs when compared with surface- floating aerators.
tion of the equipment if required, ensuring a com- pletely safe working envi- ronment for operators.
ing and oxidation zone’ where the wastewater and air are mixed under pres- sure.
with dissolved oxygen – is then pumped back into the source.
The plants specialise in processing animal by- products for the meat butchery industry.
Hydro Innovations pro- posed an Echo-Storm aeration system as an alternative to traditional surface-floating aerators, which have always been considered difficult and potentially hazardous to service or maintain.
Echo-Storm aerators can produce the desired level of mixing and dis- solved oxygen with all the equipment located on the banks of lagoons – not in or on them.
Nick was pleased with the results and is consid- ering replacing the bal- ance of the old system to bank-mounted aerators.
The turbulent mixing facilitates the removal of substances with weak Henry’s law solubility constants, such as carbon dioxide and volatile or- ganic compounds.
Because of the nature of the system – using a self-priming pump – mix- ing and destratification is controlled by the posi- tioning of the suction and discharge of the pump.
The NSW Riverstone plant’s collection area, in addition to Sydney metro, ranges from Nowra in the south to Canberra, Dubbo and Bathurst inland, and up to Newcastle and Tam- worth in the north.
As part of this program, plant engineer Nick Law- rance contacted Hydro Innovations for advice and assistance in replac- ing aging surface-floating aerators on their waste- water treatment system.
These surface aerators are usually connected to lagoon bank by cables and generally require op- erators to ‘paddle out’ in a small boat to carry out any work.
The rendering plant had been operating five float- ing units and when one of these failed it was de- cided to install an Echo- Storm aeration system to trial the effectiveness and operation of the system.
An Echo-Storm is a device used to mix and aerate tanks, ponds and lagoons.
It also oxidises sulphur containing molecules such as hydrogen sulphide and mercaptans for effec- tive odour and corrosion control, as well as reduc- ing the size of organic molecules.
The material collected is recycled into products used for livestock, pet food, aquaculture, ferti- liser and biofuels.
Nick wanted an aera- tion system that could be monitored and main- tained from the lagoon banks – providing a safe environment that opera-
It was emphasised that by using Echo-Storm aer- ators, asset owners could minimise workplace health and safety risks
After only a month of operation, significant re- sults were achieved, espe- cially in reducing surface scum, maintaining re- quired dissolved oxygen levels, improving operat- ing efficiencies and con- tributing to lower odour levels.
The Echo-Storm aera- tor is used in conjunction with a self-priming pump.
The fluid – saturated
What is an Echo-Storm?
Water can therefore be drawn from anywhere and at any depth of the tank or lagoon and can be discharged anywhere at any depth.
It uses Bernoulli’s prin- cipal, whereby a low- pressure area is created by an accelerated fluid.
For more information, visit hydroinnovations. com.au or call 02 9898 1800.
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The other obvious ben- efit of the newly installed ‘bank-mounted’ Echo- Storm aeration system is the ability to quickly, safely and easily inspect the system or make any adjustments to the opera-
Within the Echo-Storm aerator, there is an ‘ac- celeration zone’ where the pumped fluid is ac- celerated, creating a low- pressure area in the ‘aspi- rating zone’.
The pump draws wa- ter from the source and pumps it into the aerator.
Here it draws in atmos- pheric air at the rate of 2.2 times the rate of the fluid being pumped.
The air and water then passes into the ‘mix-
Echo-Storm aerators at AJ Bush & Sons (Manufactures) improved operating efficiencies and reduced odours.
Overhead sprinkler systems in conjunction with evaporative cooling systems
MARK Dunlop has re- cently published a paper with his Queensland De- partment of Agriculture and Fisheries colleague Jim McAuley looking at the potential for overhead sprinkler systems to be used in conjunction with evaporative cooling sys- tems.
but not replace evaporative cooling pads completely.
interactions with farm, batch, bird age and time of day.
sessed during this study but was inferred from thermal camera images and from live weight and mortality data.
An overhead sprinkler system that directly applies water onto meat chickens in tunnel ventilated houses was evaluated and com- pared with a conventional evaporative cooling pad system at two commercial farms in southeast Queens- land.
Water was applied inter- mittently based on house temperature and a tem- perature program that was related to bird age.
The sprinkler system was used to reduce the use of evaporative cooling pads as the primary cooling system
Air temperature, relative humidity, litter moisture content, cooling water us- age, live market weight and mortality were assessed during the study.
Bird comfort due to the direct cooling effect of water evaporating off the birds was not directly as-
For more informa- tion, visit sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/ S0032579121001127
The sprinkler system used low water pressure and comprised evenly spaced sprinklers and a programmable controller.
In general, it was found that houses with combined sprinkler and evaporative cooling pad systems used less water, while having similar litter moisture con- tent, live market weight, and mortality compared with control houses that were fitted with conven- tional evaporative cooling pads.
This was the first study in Australia involving this sprinkler system, and the researchers suggest that the sprinkler system design and operation may require some adaptation to bet- ter suit Australian poultry house design and climatic conditions, including the need for additional sprin- klers to improve coverage, lower set-point tempera- tures and altering sprinkler spacing to suit ceiling baf- fle curtains, if fitted.
The study was conducted over six sequential grow- outs during a one-year pe- riod.
When evaporative cool- ing was required, sprin- kler houses had warmer air temperature but lower relative humidity than the control houses.
The effect of sprinklers on these measured param- eters was complicated by
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(02) 9898 1800
sales@HydroInnovations.com.au www.HydroInnovations.com.au
Page 12 – National Poultry Newspaper, August 2021
Schematic of poultry houses, sprinkler system lay- outs and litter sampling positions used in this study – circles surrounding the sprinklers are not intended to show spray patterns, coverage or overlap, and building length:width ratio is drawn at 1:2.
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