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Aero-Tube
Aero-Tube
“In about a year, we converted 80% of the hatcheries in Mexico to Aero-Tube.”
At “Aquaculture 2009”,
the recent World Aquaculture Society conference in Seattle, Washington, USA (February 2009), I interviewed Ben Williams, business development manager for Aeration Products at Colorite Plastics, which markets Aero-Tube™, an alternative to paddlewheel and Venturi-type aeration systems.
Shrimp News: How much production do you get from your system?
Shrimp News: Tell me a little bit about your products and how shrimp farmers use them.
Ben Williams: The core of our product line is Aero-Tube, our diffuser tubing, invented and patented by Colorite over five years ago. It offers almost no resistance to the flow of air so less expensive air blowers can be used to power it. It’s used in our aeration bars, diffuser grids and airlift systems. We focus on shrimp because the bubbles coming out of our tubing are much, much smaller in saltwater than in freshwater, which means much better oxygen transfer.
Some people say our systems don’t generate a current the way other aeration systems do. But that’s not true. Our airlift system generates a lot of flow. It can have up to sixty meters of tubing in it. We’ve done tests with a one-horsepower, three-grid airlift and it pushed water at a meter per second. The other objection I hear all the time is that the Aero-Tube is going to clog. That just doesn’t happen, especially when it’s running all the time.
Shrimp News: How long will Aero-Tube last under constant use in a hatchery tank or a growout pond?
Ben Williams: Up to five years under typical shrimp farming conditions.
Shrimp News: Do you sell the air blowers that work with your Aero-Tube products?
Ben Williams: Not as stand-alone products, but we do use blowers with low electrical consumption and high output in Aero-Tube airlift systems.
Shrimp News: Are hatcheries using Aero-Tube?
Ben Williams: Yes, hatcheries really like Aero-Tube. In the past, hatcheries typically used air stones or drilled PVC to aerate their tanks, which meant big bubbles, high head pressure and a lot of wasted energy. In Mexico, for example, they would use a ten-horsepower blower to aerate forty tanks. With our equipment you can run eighty tanks on the same amount of electricity. In about a year, we converted 80% of the hatcheries in Mexico to Aero-Tube. Hatcheries typically use two meters of tubing for each meter of raceway or tank. It’s not an expensive change over, and the payback is tremendous. Once hatchery managers see Aero-Tube in action in one tank, they want it in every tank.
Shrimp News: How are farms using your equipment?
Ben Williams: On farms, I recommend airlift systems because they really move a lot of water. A one-horsepower airlift will replace three, one-horsepower paddlewheels. That’s because they’re more efficient. Paddlewheels give you two and a half pounds of oxygen per hour per horsepower. In full-strength seawater, our one-horsepower Aero-Tube Airlift gives you 13 or 14 pounds, more than five times as much.
Shrimp News: Earlier, you mentioned that you had a big sale in Vietnam. Tell me about that.
Ben Williams: We did a trial in one pond, and the company bought 1,300 diffuser grids. Afterward, they reported better food conversion ratios and better overall pond conditions.
Shrimp News: Have you done any cost comparisons between your systems and paddlewheels?
Ben Williams: Electrical costs for our airlift systems are one-third the cost of equally powered paddlewheel systems. And there’s almost no maintenance with airlift systems. We’ve all seen the paddlewheel graveyards around the world. That doesn’t happen with Aero-Tube systems.
Source: Ben Williams. Interview by Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, Seattle, Washington, USA, February 18, 2009.
Shrimp News: How much production do you get from your system?
Shrimp News: Tell me a little bit about your products and how shrimp farmers use them.
Ben Williams: The core of our product line is Aero-Tube, our diffuser tubing, invented and patented by Colorite over five years ago. It offers almost no resistance to the flow of air so less expensive air blowers can be used to power it. It’s used in our aeration bars, diffuser grids and airlift systems. We focus on shrimp because the bubbles coming out of our tubing are much, much smaller in saltwater than in freshwater, which means much better oxygen transfer.
Some people say our systems don’t generate a current the way other aeration systems do. But that’s not true. Our airlift system generates a lot of flow. It can have up to sixty meters of tubing in it. We’ve done tests with a one-horsepower, three-grid airlift and it pushed water at a meter per second. The other objection I hear all the time is that the Aero-Tube is going to clog. That just doesn’t happen, especially when it’s running all the time.
Shrimp News: How long will Aero-Tube last under constant use in a hatchery tank or a growout pond?
Ben Williams: Up to five years under typical shrimp farming conditions.
Shrimp News: Do you sell the air blowers that work with your Aero-Tube products?
Ben Williams: Not as stand-alone products, but we do use blowers with low electrical consumption and high output in Aero-Tube airlift systems.
Shrimp News: Are hatcheries using Aero-Tube?
Ben Williams: Yes, hatcheries really like Aero-Tube. In the past, hatcheries typically used air stones or drilled PVC to aerate their tanks, which meant big bubbles, high head pressure and a lot of wasted energy. In Mexico, for example, they would use a ten-horsepower blower to aerate forty tanks. With our equipment you can run eighty tanks on the same amount of electricity. In about a year, we converted 80% of the hatcheries in Mexico to Aero-Tube. Hatcheries typically use two meters of tubing for each meter of raceway or tank. It’s not an expensive change over, and the payback is tremendous. Once hatchery managers see Aero-Tube in action in one tank, they want it in every tank.
Shrimp News: How are farms using your equipment?
Ben Williams: On farms, I recommend airlift systems because they really move a lot of water. A one-horsepower airlift will replace three, one-horsepower paddlewheels. That’s because they’re more efficient. Paddlewheels give you two and a half pounds of oxygen per hour per horsepower. In full-strength seawater, our one-horsepower Aero-Tube Airlift gives you 13 or 14 pounds, more than five times as much.
Shrimp News: Earlier, you mentioned that you had a big sale in Vietnam. Tell me about that.
Ben Williams: We did a trial in one pond, and the company bought 1,300 diffuser grids. Afterward, they reported better food conversion ratios and better overall pond conditions.
Shrimp News: Have you done any cost comparisons between your systems and paddlewheels?
Ben Williams: Electrical costs for our airlift systems are one-third the cost of equally powered paddlewheel systems. And there’s almost no maintenance with airlift systems. We’ve all seen the paddlewheel graveyards around the world. That doesn’t happen with Aero-Tube systems.
Information:
To view videos of Aero-Tube in action go to Colorite Plastics’ Home Page, scroll to the bottom of the page and then click on the big green arrow in the lower right hand corner of the page. Click here to see pictures of some of Colorite’s products for shrimp farmers.
Information:
Ben Williams, Business Development Manager/Aeration Products, Colorite Plastics, 5804 Van Winkle Lane, Austin, Texas 78739, USA (office 1-512-494-5155, mobile 1-512-944-8192, Skype: ebwill1 www.aero-tube.com, email ben.williams@tekni-plex.com, webpage http://www.coloriteaerationtubing.com).
Information:
John Cooksey, World Aquaculture Conference Management, P.O. Box 2302, Valley Center, CA 92082, USA (phone 760-751-5005, fax 760-751-5003, email worldaqua@aol.com, webpage http://www.was.org).
Source: Ben Williams. Interview by Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, Seattle, Washington, USA, February 18, 2009.
Source: www.shrimpnews.com (Free News Friday, March 20, 2009)
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