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Odor control in aquafeed production using non-thermal plasma Merijn Appelman, Aerox
With the increasing amount of people living on earth and the higher demands that we have on our living environment, odor control is getting more and more important. In certain industries, odors cannot be avoided during processes like extruding, drying or cooling. Especially in aquafeed production where smelly ingredients are used like fishmeal, a lot of odor is emitted via the exhaust air of those processes. To have fresh air for your neighbors and/or comply with odor legislation, odor control is often a necessity. A common and effective used technique for odor control in the aquafeed industry is the Non-Thermal Plasma Injection technology (NTP).
What is non-thermal plasma? Plasma is commonly known as the fourth state of matter, alongside liquid, solid and gas. It is made up of ionized gas, which consists of a balanced mix of electrons, positive ions and neutral particles. Due to the highly energetic state of the constituents of plasma, it produces its own electromagnetic radiation. Aerox developed NTP-modules that generate NTP by electricity. Since NTP operates at room temperature, relatively little electricity is needed, ensuring a sustainable and cost-effective odor control solution. The NTP does not generate a significant temperature increase in process airflow. How does it work? Ambient air is cleaned using a three-stage filter (Fig. 2) and then pushed into the injector cabinet where it passes through the NTP-modules. Within the plasma modules, oxygen and water vapour molecules
Figure 1. Non-Thermal Plasma module.
are split, transforming them into active oxygen. This highly reactive mixture is then directly injected into the process air exhaust duct. The active oxygen in the injection air executes a high-speed oxidation reaction (< 0.5 seconds) with the offensive odor molecules inside the process air, creating less smelly or undetectable molecules, solving the odor problem.
Odor control in aquafeed production To reduce the odor emission coming from the processes of aquafeed production one can choose to treat the
Aquafeed: Advances in Processing & Formulation Vol 13 Issue 3 2021
