Organic Odours from:
Sewage, Grease Traps, Kitchen Exhaust, Garbage, Toilets, Fertilisers, Farm Animals, Fermentation, Spoilage and Rotting etc.
Chemical Odours from:
Paints, Varnishes, Thinners, Adhesives, Glues, Plastics, Waxes, Carpets, Disinfectants, Deodorants and Perfumes etc. and from thousands of other chemicals, substances and material used and stored in buildings and factories.
BACTERIA, FUNGUS, YEAST, MOULD, MILDEW, SPORES & PROTOZOA
Many if not most odours are produced by Bacteria and other Organisms. The Bio-Oxygen Process kills the organisms that cause odours such as Bacteria, Fungus, Yeast, Mould, Mildew, Spores, Viruses, Protozoa and other Organisms. The Bio-Oxygen
Process treats the cause (Bacteria) as well as the effect (Odours).
PARTICULATES, AEROSOLS, STEAM, OIL & WAX
The Bio-Oxygen Process does not remove airborne Particulates, Aerosols, Steam, Oil, Grease or Wax because these pollutants should be removed with an Electrostatic Precipitator (EP). The combined concentration of Particulates, Aerosols, Steam, Oil, Grease and Wax in the exhaust air should not exceed 10 ug/m3 (10 microgram per cubic meter), collected on a 0.10 micron pore size test membrane.
The capacity and sizing of the Bio-Oxygen equipment is assessed:
[a] on the maximum likely concentration of odours, gases and chemicals.
[b] Particulates, Aerosols, Oil & Was contained in the exhaust gases.
[c} Temperature and Humidity of the exhaust gases because all these factors are a load over and above the pollutants in the exhaust air.
BIO-OXYGEN ODOUR TREATMENT CAPACITY
The Bio-Oxygen Process injects Oxygen Clusters into a Sewerage Pit, Grease Trap, Kitchen Exhaust etc and as the Polluted Air and Oxygen Cluster Air mix, a chemical reaction takes place in the duct between the Pollutants and the Oxygen Clusters.
The Oxygen Clusters react with the Odours and Chemical Fumes in 5 – 15 seconds. The electron tubes are installed in the path of clean outside air and the polluted air does not come into the contact with the electron tubes so that the Bio-Oxygen electron tubes always stay clean. Once the Oxygen Clusters have bonded with an odour molecule, the Oxygen Clusters continue to act on the odours, gases and chemicals in mid air and the odours diminish over 5 – 15 seconds. The odours can only travel as far as the air currents and wind can carry the odours in 5 – 15 seconds but along the way, the odours diminish and in up to 15 seconds, the odours are gone.
The Bio-Oxygen Process is a positive process that works at the molecular level. Carbon Filters, Scrubbers and Biomass Filters are all negative processes because they only absorb the odours and don’t do anything to the odours themselves. With the Bio-Oxygen Process, up to 99% odour reduction may be targeted because as long as there is an excess of Oxygen Clusters, there can be no residual odours. Please ask Bio-Oxygen for a cost estimate to treat your particular odour emissions.
CARBON FILTER versus BIO-OXYGEN
Carbon Block Filters or Carbon Granule Filters are often used to remove Odours, Gases and Chemicals. Carbon Blocks are shaped like a house brick and have pores like wormholes. The wormholes go from side to side through the carbon block. The carbon blocks are stacked one on top of another like a brick wall. A powerful fan either sucks or blows the polluted air through the carbon filter.
Carbon must be kept dry
The carbon must be kept dry because once the pores of the carbon are full of water, they cannot hold water and gases as well. The pores can either hold water or gas but they cannot hold both. For this reason, a Dehumidifier is required for a Carbon Filter installation to keep the carbon dry. The dehumidifier must have the same capacity as the ventilation fan. Without a dehumidifier, a carbon filter would be virtually useless.
Contact Time
As the Odours, Gases and Chemicals flow through the carbon bed, they make contact with the carbon and are absorbed into the pores of the carbon, so the theory goes. The minimum required contact time for the odours and gases to be absorbed into the carbon is
0.20 seconds, provided that the carbon is dry. If the pores of the carbon are already full of water then, of course, the carbon can’t hold odours and gases as well. However, the problem is that as the polluted air is blown through the carbon granule bed, the air follows the path of least resistance and therefore the polluted air tends to flow along the gaps around the granules rather than through the pores of the carbon granules. For this reason, carbon granule filters only have a relatively low efficiency.
Exhaust Temperature
Gases expand and contract depending on temperature. Therefore, the capacity of the carbon to hold gases in the pores of the carbon depends on the temperature of the exhaust gases and the environmental temperature. As the temperature goes up, the trapped gases in the pores of the carbon expand and begin to get squeezed out of the pores.
Some of the odours and gases that are absorbed during the night are squeezed out again during the day. The higher the temperature of the exhaust gases, the lower the absorption capacity of the carbon filter will be. With carbon filters, the temperature of the exhaust gases should be kept
(a) constant and
(b) as low as possible, ideally below 30 C, however, in reality this is not always possible.
Airborne Particulates block Pinholes
The pores of carbon are very easily blocked by airborne particulates and once a pore is blocked, it cannot absorb any more odours and gases. Gradually, as more and more of the pores are blocked, the odour absorption capacity of the carbon is accordingly impaired and it is only a question of time before most the pores are blocked and the odour absorption capacity of the carbon comes virtually to an end. The pores are usually blocked before the carbon has reached its maximum absorption capacity.
Bio-Oxygen Process
By comparison, the Bio-Oxygen Process injects Oxygen Clusters into the exhaust stack. The Oxygen Clusters react with the Odours, Gases and Chemicals in the exhaust duct in seconds. The higher the pressure in the exhaust duct, the faster the reaction will be. Usually, the pressure in an exhaust duct is quite high. The electron tubes are always installed in the path of clean outside air and the polluted air does not flow over the electron tubes and therefore the electron tubes always stay clean.
In a Bio-Oxygen installation, the Oxygen Cluster Air is injected into the Polluted Air Duct. Both Pipes merge into one larger Pipe where the reaction takes place. The Bio-Oxygen Process causes a chemical reaction between the Oxygen Clusters and the odours, gases and chemicals. The higher the pressure in the duct, the faster the reaction will be. The Bio-Oxygen Process works at the molecular level. Carbon Filters are a negative odour treatment because they only absorb odours and don’t actually change or do anything to the odours and chemicals themselves. The performance and efficiency of a Carbon Filter is on a declining curve whereas the Bio- Oxygen Process remains constant for the duration of the service period.
SCRUBBER versus BIO-OXYGEN
A Water Scrubber consists of a large vessel and a high pressure pump that produces a fog inside the vessel. The polluted air flows through the fog and the fog washes out particulates in the polluted air stream. Essentially, scrubbers are designed to wash out dust and particulates. However, some people try to remove odours and gases with a water scrubber but to no avail because water and gas do not mix and, for this reason, water scrubbers are ineffective for the removal of odours and gases.
Chemical Scrubber
In order to improve the efficiency of Water Scrubbers, chemicals such as Magnesium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Hydrogen Peroxide and/or Sodium Hypochlorite are added to the scrubbing water in order to enhance to efficiency of scrubbers. The chemicals give off fumes and the chemical fumes then react with the odours and gases and remove some of the odours and therefore in a chemical scrubber, it is not the water that removes the odours but the chemical fumes.
Chemical Scrubbers expensive to operate
Chemical Scrubbers are very expensive to operate because they consume large amounts of chemicals and large amounts of water. In desert areas, the cost of the water may be equal to the cost of the chemicals. Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda) and Sodium Hypochlorite (Chlorine) are highly corrosive and corrode the structure of the scrubber and therefore, chemical scrubbers only have a life of 10 – 15 years. A comparable Bio-Oxygen system would have a life expectancy of up to 30 years or longer (twice as long).
The operation of a chemical scrubber requires workers to operate the plant 24 hours per day whilst Bio-Oxygen works completely unattended 24/7. The chemicals are stored on site in tanks. A chemical scrubber and chemical tanks look like a small chemical plant and such an installation would be viewed by local residents and/or businesses with suspicion.
Furthermore, the Residual Slurry from a chemical scrubber is highly toxic and such a toxic slurry cannot be discharged into the sewer. The toxic slurry must be disposed of in a toxic waste dump at extra cost. Chemical Scrubbers and chemical tanks pose a safety risk and have to be insured against leakage, vandalism and disaster. Bio-Oxygen does not require water or chemicals, we only require clean ambient air and therefore there are no safety issues. Fresh Air is free.
BIOMASS FILTER versus BIO-OXYGEN
Biomass Filters are designed and constructed like a swimming pool and are very expensive to build. Biomass Filters can be as large or larger than an olympic size swimming pool. Biomass filters are minimum 3 – 4 meters deep. About 50 cm high piers are erected on the bottom of the Biomass Filter. A rigid wire mesh is placed on top of the piers and then wood chips, peanut shells, coconut shells or similar organic material is spread on top of the rigid mesh until the pool is filled with biomass.
A layer of soil is then spread on top of the biomass. Water sprinklers are placed on top of the Biomass Filter and sprinkle water onto the Biomass Filter to keep the biomass moist so as to promote bacterial activity inside the biomass. On the bottom of the Biomass Filter is a drain hole which is connected to a pond to collect the water coming from the sprinklers. The exhaust air is blown into the hollow space under the wire mesh and the gases rise through the biomass to the surface. The average Biomass Filter is minimum 3 – 4 meters deep and if the air rises at only 1 m/s then the odours would be in contact with the biomass for only about 3 – 4 seconds.
Absorption & Filtering
Biomass Filters are always dripping wet and therefore the biomass cannot absorb any odours, gases or chemicals into the pores of the biomass because the pores of the biomass are already full of water. The exhaust gases contain smelly particulates. The only odour reduction that a Biomass Filter is able to achieve is restricted to the removal of smelly particulates contained in the exhaust air. The smelly particulates become trapped in the 3 – 4 meter deep biomass, however, as the smelly organic material accumulates and builds-up in the biomass, after a time, the Biomass Filter itself will start to give off more and more odours.
Scrubbing Action
As the water trickles down through the biomass filter, some of the smelly particulates are washed down by the water trickling down through the biomass and finish up in a waste water pond. The water trickling down merely transfers some of the odourous substances from the biomass filter to the pond and eventually the pond starts to smell and has to be treated, at extra cost.
Water Consumption
Biomass Filters require a very large amount of water. In desert areas, there may not be enough water available to waste on a Biomass Filter and, in any event, the cost of the water in desert areas may be prohibitive. Bio-Oxygen does not require nor consume any water.
Bacterial Activity
The gaseous odours pass through a Biomass Filter in 3 – 4 seconds and go largely untreated to the atmosphere because the bacteria in the biomass cannot digest the odours and gases in 3 – 4 seconds. Bacteria, at best, need hours or days, not seconds.
Temperature
The temperature of the Biomass must be maintained at 30 C, summer or winter, snow, rain or shine, same as the temperature of an incubator. If the temperature of the biomass goes above or below 30 C then the bacterial activity in the biomass will be accordingly impaired. If the temperature of the exhaust gases exceeds 55 C then at that temperature, the whole Biomass Filer would be pasteurised.
The pasteurisation temperature is 55 C and at that temperature, bacterial activity virtually ceases and the Biomass Filter would start to stink. Conversely, at 0 C the bacteria activity would virtually also cease. Therefore, the temperature (a) of the biomass in a Biomass Filter and (b) the temperature of the gases that pass through the Biomass Filter are critical for the proper functioning of a Biomass Filter and must both be maintained at a constant 30 C, summer or winter. However, in reality this is not possible.
Required Land Area
A Biomass Filter occupies literally hundreds of square meters or square yards of land. To arrive at a true cost comparison with Bio-Oxygen, you have to add the value of the land to the cost of construction of a Biomass Filter. Each Bio-Oxygen Model 9000/10 replaces a Biomass filter of up to 100 square meters (120 square yards) and therefore, the value of the land should be added to the construction cost of the Biomass Filter.
The value of the land would already be more than the cost of the Bio-Oxygen equipment, let alone the cost of constructing a Biomass Filter on the land. A Bio-Oxygen unit only has a footprint of 0.30 sq. meter or 1 sq. foot.
Bio-Oxygen Process
By comparison, the Bio-Oxygen Process blows Oxygen Clusters into the exhaust stack, reaction chamber or sewerage pit etc. The Oxygen Clusters react with the Odours, Gases and Chemical Fumes and Vapours in the exhaust duct, reaction chamber or pit in 5 – 15 seconds. The Bio-Oxygen Electron Tubes are always in the path of clean outside air and the polluted air does not come into the contact with the electron tubes and therefore the electron tubes always stay clean.
In an exhaust duct, without a reaction chamber, once the Oxygen Clusters have bonded with an odour molecule, the Oxygen Clusters continue to act on the odours, gases and chemicals in mid air and the odours gradually diminish over 5 – 15 seconds. The odours can only travel as far as the air currents and wind can carry the odours in 5 – 15 seconds but along the way, the odours gradually diminish and become weaker and weaker until in maximum 15 seconds, the odours are gone. The Bio- Oxygen Process causes a chemical reaction between the Oxygen Clusters and the odours, gases and chemicals.
The Bio-Oxygen Process works at the molecular level. Biomass Filters are a negative system because they only absorb odours and don’t do anything to the odours themselves. The performance of a Biomass Filter is on a diminishing curve whilst the performance and efficiency of the Bio-Oxygen system remains constant for the duration of the service period. As long as there is an excess of Oxygen Clusters there can be no residual odours. Therefore, with the Bio-Oxygen Process, odour reductions of up to 99% can actually be achieved. No other system can equal this efficiency.
