Sterile irrigation water is a high cost factor in any greenhouse and the price of water will likely increase further in the years to come. A smart greenhouse operation therefore includes sterilizers that make use of the return irrigation water.
An Enerdes sterilizer disinfects 99.9% of your drain water, while ensuring that all the oxygen and fertilizers remain in the water. It is the ideal solution to prevent water wastage and save costs.
Enerdes is part of the Reinders Corporation. For more than 100 years we have been at the frontline of innovations for the agriculture and horticulture industry.
Our sterilizers are engineered to achieve ideal irrigation water quality with minimum use of energy and are the go-to solution to prevent water wastage in greenhouses.
Advantages of an Enerdes sterilizer:
Typically, Enerdes advises to use water sterilizers that operate on a heat source.
The advantages of a sterilizer based on heat treatment are for example:
Compared to other water disinfection processes like UV sterilization or ozone sterilization, water heat treatment (also called heat pasteurization) is a much more reliable process. The components used in our sterilizers are very robust and reliable. The process kills more than 99.9 % of all pathogens present in the water. Only for smaller volumes, Enerdes might recommend an ultraviolet water sterilizer.
With an Enerdes heat sterilizer, you will always have clean, safe and sterile irrigation water available for your plants. Enerdes can build a water sterilizer in any size. When talking about a sterilizer size, the amount of water that can be sterilized per hour is mostly indicated.
Some standard water sterilizer sizes (water volume that is disinfected per hour) are:
With recirculation of drain water, the risk of spread of bacteria, fungi and viruses arises. A drain water sterilizer can limit this spread. A sterilizer kills the bacteria, fungi and viruses that are harmful to your plants. At the same time, the sterilizer preserves the oxygen and the fertilizer (the nutrients) in the water.
Enerdes water sterilizers can save you a vast amount of water and money every year.
How a water sterilizer works:
Water must be acidified before it is heated otherwise the heat exchanger would quickly be filled with calcium deposits. After this, the water is heated up until all pathogens and microbes are killed. Before the water can be used as sterile irrigation water, it must be cooled down sufficiently and it must be neutralized to a pH of approximately 7 again. After this, the water is perfectly safe to use. Additional nutrients and fertilizer can be added for the plants, and the sterile irrigation water is distributed over the greenhouse.
To increase the efficiency of the sterilizer, the heat which is released during the cooling of the sterilized water is being used to:
This reduces the energy consumption to a minimum.
One of the challenges of modern greenhouses is the efficient use of water.
Re-use of drain water has two major benefits:
For modern greenhouses, the greenhouse irrigation system is an intricate system with a complex infrastructure. Especially for greenhouses with a hydroponic system, irrigation water treatment is quite essential. After the irrigation system lay out has been designed and installed in the greenhouse, Enerdes takes care of the sterilization. With the growing desire to recycle water and reuse irrigation water, sterilization or disinfection of the irrigation water has become important for modern greenhouses.
Some greenhouse companies prefer to use a UV sterilizer. Heat treatment sterilizers are especially suitable for large volumes of irrigation water that need to be disinfected.
For smaller volumes, an ultraviolet water sterilizer may be convenient. UV water sterilizers contain lamps that emit UV-C light. Microbes and pathogens are killed by UV-C light if the radiation power is strong enough and the exposure time sufficiently long.
When considering a UV sterilizer, a few factors are important to take into account:
Enerdes UV sterilizers are built with very strict safety precautions. The power and exposure time are sufficient for water disinfection. After UV sterilization the water is perfectly safe to use for plant irrigation. The water is not chemically altered.
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