Sea Lice, biofilm and viruses is a constantly hazzle for the aquacultur industry but can be drastically reduced by Far UVC

What is Far UVC

Far UVC is the first UV based product to provide continuous disinfection in farming, aquaculture and where people live, work and play - safely and effectively. Destroys aerosol pathogens (virus, bacteria, protozoan, prion, viroid and fungus) directly in the air. Equally effective for sterilizing surfaces. Is safe to use in any environment, no harm to people, animals or plants. More common bacteria as Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, and Staphylococcus aureus will also be killed. 

Far UVC eliminate the need of de lousing and reduces use of antibiototica and prevents drug-resistant organisms and creation of super bugs, Far UVC is in addition more than 10 times more efficient than todays UVC. Used in water, issues like biofilm will be history in addition to a clean and healthy water supply. 

222nm Far UVC vs 254nm UVC
The majority of UV treatment is performed with LPM UVC lamps at 254nm in medical, academic, and industrial fields. However, 254nm UVC lamps have potential drawbacks, such as the possibility of mercury leakage, a short lifetime, and significant energy requirements, which limit their application and further development. In contrast, 222nm UVC excimer lamps have higher irradiance and stronger microbial killing effects with shorter irradiation time, and can overcome the various inferiorities of 254nm UVC lamps.

The disinfection effect of the 222nm excimer lamp is significantly stronger than that of the 254nm UVC lamp, as it requires 5–10 times less irradiance dose to achieve almost the same disinfection effect. This means that the 222nm excimer lamp achieves the same level of disinfection in a much shorter time compared to the 254nm UVC lamp. Additionally, a study found that the disinfection effect of the 222nm UVC excimer lamp on bacteria in different media varied slightly, with slightly longer exposure times needed for bacteria in TSB.

The application of the “tunnel-type” disinfection device has a positive impact on the speed of transfer of imported cold-chain goods, container turnover, and port storage capacity.

ISAV (Infectious salmon anaemia virus)

ISAV will be inactivated by Far UVC.

Amoebic Gill Disease, IPNV (Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus) and Sea Lice

These problems needs more attention and with Far UVC reflectors made of Electropolished Super Duplex OH radicals will be created, this will inactivate Amoebic Gill Disease and IPNV. And also aid in sea lice prevention, sea lices will be mechanical paralysed when bubbles form in the gut and haemolymph and cause the sea lices to release and float to the surface (this is actually the same result as when OH radicals is generated by use of hydrogen peroxide).

OH radikaler

Produksjon av OH radikaler maksimeres når reflektorer er så nær UV kilde som mulig, det oppnår vi med reflektorer i Elektropolert Super Duplex.

Vestflow Biotunnel

This Norwegian Institute of Marine Research trial was done with UVC that concluded following (We have demonstrated that sufficient doses of UVC irradiation can dramatically reduce production of infective stages from salmon lice egg strings). The test was carried out in PVC tanks with 16% reflectivity.

The limit for an efficient UV lamp is 40% energy output, lamp energy below this is considered as defective. Reflectivity is measured from 40% lamp energy and up and materials with 30% only have 4 reflections.   

Our Biotunnel is lined with highly optic reflective sheets with 98% reflectivity that gives 45 to 50 highly scattering reflections, this makes it 10 times more efficient than polished aluminum sheets with 70% reflectivity and 14 times more efficient compared to PVC tanks. In addition the 222nm Far UVC require 5-10 times less radiation compared to 254nm UVC and significantly shorter irradiation time.

The highly scattering UV light fills the Biotunnel completely without any shadow areas resulting that all passing fish will be treated completely without any untreated parts. Both salmons and trouts have UV receptors that can see the unvisible UV light and will be drawn to it. The units can be on 24/7 and do not do any damage to fish eyes or skin. It will take longer time for all fishes to pass through the tunnel but the treatment will be far better. Pancreatic disease (PD) and infectious salmon anemia (ILA) will also be eliminated. With UV reflectors made of Electropolished Super Duplex, adult sea lice will also be deactivated.  

Safety

The maximum permissible Far-UVC exposure according to current EU regulations is 30 mJ/cm² in 8 hours. Despite the fact that this norm is established for the entire UV spectrum of radiation, it is quite sufficient for disinfection.

Size and power

Tunnel size is 1200mm internal diameter and a 6 meter unit with 4 tunnels weight is around 1.400kg, the tunnel walls have floating elements and is balanced according to depth. 

Power usage for a 6 meter unit with tunnels is 12VDC 640 Watt.

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