Composting Technologies
Aeration technology
„Breathe freely”Unfortunately, waste treatment plants are often contaminated with bad odours, germs and spores. Additionally there are diesel engines, steam, bio aerosols and other substances which make the air unbearable for men and machines.
We try to deal with these conditions by providing intelligent air concepts. We design solutions which are practical and financially viable. We make use of our knowledge to provide solutions that work, so you and your staff, your machines and even your bank account are able to “breathe freely”.
The blowers are specially modified to the "unfavourable conditions" in biological waste treatment plants. Different sizes are available and are customised to every plant and every composting windrow. This leads to an ideal rate of air flow and beneficial operating cost.
Dependent on constructional conditions and the material which should be treated, it is possible to design the aeration system for negative or positive aeration.
Every aeration duct can be operated individually. Optionally all process blowers can be placed in a container. The container is delivered to the plant completely pre-installed; blowers, ducts valves and connections are complete. This reduces the interfaces between the various suppliers.
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Concrete ducts have proven themselves in the sewage industry for decades. We have used our long-term experience and integrated the advantages of concrete pipes into our aeration system (i.e. looked at stability, cost of purchasing and laying the ducts and protection against aggressive attacks).
The big cross-section of the pipe achieves an equal air distribution over the whole length of the compost windrow. This allows for large lengths of the ducts up to 100 m. The concrete aeration duct is directly incorporated into the composting floor (infloor aeration) and can be traversed by any machine (up to 60 tons). The innovative modular system allows implementation of any size of plant. Specifically developed conical jets minimise the risk of plugging. The ideal egg-shape of the drain cross-section secures quick drainage of the leachate water.
The COMPOair aeration ducts can be incorporated into both new plants and existing composting areas. The laying is done quickly and cost-effectively.
Load capacity of concrete aeration pipes
For a person who is not a structural engineer it is often difficult to imagine what the fact means, that our aeration pipes can withstand a peak compression force in an uninstalled condition of more than 180 kN/m according to ÖNORM B5074:2012 (EN 1916:2008).
To better present this information we considered a simple test structure:
The concrete aeration pipes are placed on a gravel surface (not 100 % level and compression degree < 100 %) without lateral packing (simulation of a ,,worst case“ installation) and then driven over with various heavy equipment.
Test 1: Driving over the aeration pipe with a wheel loader
In this test a wheel loader commonly used in composting was used to simulate the manipulation. The wheel loader was ballasted so that the vehicle weight (around 13 t) plus an added weight (ca. 3 t) only affects the front wheels so that a load of 8 t is reached on each front wheel.
Test 2: Driving over the aeration pipe with the heaviest equipment
The heaviest equipment we had was a 44 t excavator. Loading it with a 2 t concrete block with a fully extended extension arm it was possible to achieve a concentration of ballast weight on one side of 33 t (16.5 t per wheel). For a better sense of scale the „conventional“ wheel loader used in test 1 is also in the picture.
Summary:
The tests clearly show that the aeration pipes can be driven over by any equipment used on a composting facility without any problems. The test protocols from quality supervision show that it would take equipment weighing twice that used in test 2 to reach breaking load of these pipes.
A video of the test can be viewed at:
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The COMPOtainer is a pre-fabricated aeration station which is supplied fully-assembled as a "Plug and Play" solution to the construction site. Optionally you can integrate a climatized control room. Thereby important interfaces to other buildings are reduced and simplified. Additionally the COMPOtainer offers great protection against theft and also reduces noise emissions significantly.
In case of negative aeration, exhaust air is unified in a collection duct and directly transferred to the biofilter.
