Published Wednesday
21 July 2010 |
Energy consumption in commercial greenhouses
can be reduced by over 30 percent with help
from advanced IT-based control systems.
The Faculty of
Agricultural Sciences is participating in
a project that will develop control systems
that are user and resource friendly at one
and the same time.
With the aid of IT-based control decision
support systems, more than 30 percent of
the energy consumption in commercial greenhouses
can be saved. Photo: Carl-Otto Ottosen
Production of vegetables
and ornamental plants in greenhouses requires
a relatively high energy consumption. However,
substantial energy savings are just around
the corner. With a new project, itGrows,
which scientists from the Faculty of Agricultural
Sciences, Aarhus University, are participating
in, the greenhouses of the future can save
more than 30 percent of their energy consumption
by using intelligent control and optimisation
of the climate in the greenhouse. This has
is based on results from several years’
research at, among others, the Faculty of
Agricultural Sciences.
Now the biological results
will be transferred to IT-based control
systems that can be used on a commercial
basis not only in Denmark but also abroad.
This will be the world’s most advanced system
for decision support and control of energy
and other conditions in high-tech greenhouses.
But first the scientists
need to get to know the plants a bit better.
- Modern greenhouses
are very well insulated which results in
more extreme climate conditions, especially
with regard to the microclimate surrounding
the plants. Danish scientists have developed
IntelliGrow that controls the climate the
way the plants prefer it. We cannot develop
IT-based control systems and decision support
systems that the gardeners will trust until
we understand the how and why of the plants’
reactions, says senior scientist Carl-Otto
Ottosen from the Department of Horticulture
at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences.
PhD in the details of
photosynthesis
Carl-Otto Ottosen will
supervise an upcoming PhD project that has
grown out of the new itGrows project. The
PhD position is one of the 12 new PhD positions
that the graduate school SAFE at the Faculty
of Agricultural Sciences has posted.
The scientists will
clarify the differences in how the plants
react to the extreme changes in temperature
and humidity that can occur in the microclimate
in modern greenhouses. The aim is to make
it possible to trace early stress reactions
to these changes. This will be done by analysing
photosynthetic stress reactions in periods
with fluctuations in temperature and variations
in relative humidity.
The simulated stress
conditions will be used to characterise
early stress reactions with the aim of constructing
models that will be a part of developing
the IT-based climate control system. In
addition to controlling temperature and
humidity the system can later be developed
to control factors such as water and the
use of chemicals.
The three-year project
will be led by AgroTech A/S and is supported
by a grant of 10.5 mill. kr. from the Danish
National Advanced Technology Foundation
as well as the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
(via funds from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture
and Fisheries) and the other partners, that
are Copenhagen Business School, Senmatic
A/S, Eglu A/S, Gartnerirådgivningen
and the commercial greenhouse nursery Hjortebjerg
I/S.
For more information
please contact: Senior scientist Carl-Otto
Ottosen, Department of Horticulture, telephone:
+45 8999 3313, mobile +45 2290 3105, email:
CO.Ottosen@agrsci.dk
Text: Janne Hansen
+ More
Former scientist at
DJF sees huge growth potential on the international
market with fresh development funding
Published Monday 12
July 2010 |
New funding to the tune of millions of kroner
from the state investment fund Vækstfonden
aims to ensure the scientists at Sorbisense
A/S a breakthrough on the international
market with technology that provides improved
and cheaper water quality measurements.
Gadi Rothenberg and Hubert de Jonge established
Sorbisense A/S in 2004. The company has
recently received new capital from the state
investment fund Vækstfonden to continue
developing, producing and marketing the
technology that provides improved and cheaper
water quality measurements compared to traditional
measurements. Photo: DJF
One of the businesses
that has its origin in the research environment
at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences,
Aarhus University, has recently received
financial backing from the state investment
fund Vækstfonden. The business in
question is six-year-old Sorbisense A/S
which was established by professor Gadi
Rothenberg, Amsterdam University, and Hubert
de Jonge, who was employed at the Faculty
of Agricultural Sciences as a senior scientist
from 1996 to 2004.
The new funding makes
it possible for Sorbisense to continue its
development, production and sales of Sorbicell
measuring units, which are the core of the
company product.
- With the new funding
it is possible for us to develop our technology
and business so we can supply more and larger
customers in the future. Big ambitions require
investment capital. Not least in order to
build up the professional organisation that
is necessary to realize our ambitions. For
us, increasing the capital is therefore
a natural and necessary step in our development,
says Hubert de Jonge, executive director
of Sorbisense.
The technology from
Sorbisense consists of a flow-through cell
with filters in both ends. When water flows
through the cell, compounds are absorbed
inside the cell on the unique absorption
and tracer material that Sorbisense has
developed. Lab technicians can analyse the
absorbed compounds and determine what they
are and their average amount with a patented
method which uses special salts as tracers.
The measurement method gives a picture of
the compounds in the water over a period
of time compared to traditional measurements
that only say something about water quality
at the time the water sample was actually
taken. Hubert de Jonge says that the method
gives a sure, precise and cheap summary
of representative water samples from, for
example, groundwater wells or drainage pipes.
- It is more sure and
precise because the measurements are carried
out over a period of time. It is cheaper
because you do not have to take nearly as
many samples in order to achieve a representative
water sample, says Hubert de Jonge.
The grant gives Vækstfonden
a share of Sorbisense and the fund looks
forward to a breakthrough on the international
market.
- Sorbisense and Aarhus
University have succeeded in transforming
advanced research into a commercial business
with lots of potential. Since its establishment
the firm has developed strongly and has
had fantastic collaboration with Østjysk
Innovation and the other investors to date.
Now we are entering the group of owners
with fresh capital with the aim of lifting
the business up to the international market
where we are convinced that the technology
will be welcomed at least as much as here
in Denmark, says Bjarne Henning Jensen,
partner in Vækstfonden.
Text: Søren Tobberup Hansen
+ More
Norwegian fish waste
can be turned to energy
Published Friday 11
June 2010 |
In Denmark it is common to see cattle and
pig manure as a substrate in biogas plants.
New results from the Faculty of Agricultural
Sciences, Aarhus University, may add fish
waste to the list of potential biogas substrate
ingredients.
Fish wax can be used as a substrate for
biogas production in combination with cattle
manure. Photo: Janne Hansen
Animal manure is probably
the most common ingredient in biogas substrates
in Denmark. Lately, though, fish waste has
been tested and found to have good energy
potential. The high energy concentration
is not without problems, though.
The study carried out
in the huge research biogas plant at the
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aarhus
University, actually has its beginning in
Norway. Due to great distances between Norwegian
farms and the prevalence of many small farms,
large biogas plants using solely animal
manure is not a viable option in Norway.
However, combining animal manure with food
and fish waste could be a possibility.
A project funded by
the Norwegian fish oil production company
GC Riber Oils was initiated at the Faculty
of Agricultural Sciences in order to investigate
the biogas energy potential of fish waste
in combination with cattle manure. The results
of the study are presented in a report from
the faculty.
The results of the study
showed that fish wax (stearin) is a good
substrate for biogas production with a very
high biogas yield of 1458 and methane yields
of between 919 and 1023 L/kgVS.
Stearin has a very high
dry matter value and no measureable inorganic
matter making it a very concentrated feedstock.
This may appear to be an ideal situation
but in reality the microbial community within
a reactor cannot cope with such a concentrated
feedstock and inhibition is likely to occur.
- We recommend using
manure as a co-substrate to stearin, because
manure has a high buffering capacity, which
minimizes inhibition due to changes in pH
resulting from acid accumulation, says Alastair
Ward from the Department of Biosystems Engineering
at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
and author of the report.
Read the report “Biogas
potential of fish wax (stearin) with cattle
manure, Internal report, Animal Science
no. 23, May 2010“.
For more information
please contact: Postdoc Alastair James Ward,
Department of Biosystems Engineering, telephone:
8999 1935, e-mail: Alastair.Ward@agrsci.dk
Text: Janne Hansen
