WoLize Smart RAS Recirculating Aquaculture System Empowers Commercial Fish Farm: Achieving 90% Water Savings and 35% Yield Increase
- Abstract
In March 2025, WoLize successfully commissioned an industrial-grade recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) at a commercial cold-water and marine fish farming facility. Integrating multi-stage mechanical microscreening, high-surface MBBR biological filtration, pure oxygen dissolution cones, and IoT water quality automation, the system enabled the client to cut freshwater consumption by over 90%, boost overall survival rate to 96.2%, and increase biomass yield per cubic meter by 35% in a compact footprint.
|
Water Makeup Reduction |
Commercial Survival Rate |
Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) |
|
-90% (97.8% Recirculation Rate) |
96.2% (+15 Percentage Points) |
1.12 (17% Feed Cost Savings) |
Figure 1: WoLize Industrial-Grade Closed-Loop RAS Water Treatment Process Flow
- Client Background & Core Operational Challenges
The client operates an industrial-scale land-based finfish production company. Due to tightened regional environmental discharge standards, escalating municipal water tariffs, and seasonal risks from coastal red tides and pathogenic outbreaks, traditional flow-through and open raceway operations became economically unviable:
- High Biosecurity & Disease Vulnerability: Raw intake water fluctuations and seasonal pathogens led to fingerling mortalities between 20% and 25%.
- Heavy Effluent & Water Costs: Daily discharge of thousands of cubic meters triggered significant environmental compliance fees.
- Water Quality Bottlenecks at Peak Feeding: Inability to strip TAN and Nitrite (NO2-N) under heavy feeding regimes capped stocking density below 25 kg/ m³.
- Engineering Solution & Technical Innovations
3.1 Precision Automatic Backwash Drum Filtration
A 30 µm 316L stainless steel rotary drum filter continuously intercepts and removes settleable and non-settleable suspended solids (TSS). Integrated differential-pressure sensors trigger targeted high-pressure rinsing nozzles only when needed, minimizing backwash water consumption to <0.5% of circulating volume.
3.2 Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) Nitrification
Using virgin hydrophilic micro-carriers with a protected specific surface area >1200 m2/m3, high-efficiency aeration grids keep the biofilm carriers in suspension. The robust bacterial community converts toxic total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) and Nitrite (NO2-N) into Nitrite (NO2-N) at rates exceeding 0.9g TAN/m2 ·day, maintaining TAN ≤ 0.4 mg/L and NO2-N ≤ 0.1 mg/L.
3.3 Pressurized Oxygen Cone & In-Line UV/Ozone Disinfection
Deep-shaft oxygenation cones operating under 0.15-0.25 MPa achieve >92% oxygen transfer efficiency. Combined with medium-pressure UV reactors (delivering >40 mJ/cm2 dosage) and trace ozone dosing, the loop achieves 99.9% bactericidal and virucidal efficacy without residual chemical toxicity.
Figure 2: WoLize Modern Indoor Industrial Recirculating Aquaculture Facility Layout & SCADA Automation
- Technical Specifications & Performance Comparison
|
Metric / Operating Parameter |
Traditional Flow-Through System |
WoLize Smart RAS System |
Efficiency Improvement |
|
Daily Water Exchange Rate |
30% - 100% total volume |
1% - 3% total volume |
>90% Water Savings |
|
Total Ammonia Nitrogen (TAN) |
1.5 - 3.0 mg/L (Fluctuating) |
≤ 0.4 mg/L (Steady-State) |
80% Water Quality Stability |
|
Oxygen Transfer Efficiency |
40% - 50% (Diffused air) |
≥ 92% (Pressurized Cone) |
30% Aeration Energy Reduction |
|
Stocking Biomass Density (kg/m³) |
18 - 25 kg/m³ |
55 - 80 kg/m³ |
2.5×-3× Yield Expansion |
|
Production Cycle Survival Rate |
78% - 82% |
95% - 97% |
+15% Survival Gain |
Figure 3: 30-Day Continuous TAN Dynamic Monitoring & Operational Performance Comparison
- Customer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: What is the typical Return on Investment (ROI) period for a commercial WoLize RAS facility?
A: Depending on the target species (e.g., Atlantic Salmon, Grouper, Barramundi, Trout), local electricity tariffs, and feed costs, the typical payback period for a turnkey WoLize commercial RAS facility ranges between 2.5 and 3.5 years.
Q2: What fail-safe redundancies protect livestock during sudden grid power outages?
A: WoLize systems feature a four-tier automated safety redundancy: millisecond-level automatic generator transfer switches (ATS), self-actuating high-pressure liquid oxygen dosing valves, pneumatic backwash overrides, and multi-channel remote SCADA alerts, sustaining optimal life-support conditions for over 12 hours without grid power.
Q3: Does WoLize provide species-specific engineering and thermodynamic customization?
A: Yes. WoLize tailors biofilter sizing, hydraulic retention times, micro-particle stripping units, and heat-pump thermodynamic loops specifically for cold-water, warm-water, freshwater, or marine aquaculture species.
- Engineering Consultation & Turnkey Inquiries
Whether designing a new greenfield indoor fish production facility or retrofitting an open flow-through system to comply with strict discharge standards, the WoLize engineering team delivers end-to-end design, equipment manufacturing, and commissioning support.
Tel.: +86 17864390557