Salmon farmer buys 1km-long bubble curtain to block algal blooms
A Canadian salmon farmer has taken delivery of an almost 1 km-long microbubble barrier to block algal blooms at a site in the Quatsino area in the northwest of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
The microbubble curtain is one of three major deliveries from a consortium made up of LOW O2 and PSP Soluciones, Chilean companies that develop underwater aeration solutions.
The other orders were for desalination plants in Saudi Arabia and in the Antofagasta region of Chile.
Single barrier
The consortium said the Canadian project was designed to block the passage of phytoplankton and consisted of a single barrier of almost 1,000 linear metres, suspended at a depth of 15 metres and powered by a compressor located on a floating platform.
It has previously delivered a barrier for an aquaculture project in Ireland.
Luis Sepulveda, LOW O2’s chief executive and co-founder, said: “We are very happy because they are large-scale, complex and high-impact projects.
“Our company’s technology has been fully developed in Chile and the commissioning of these projects confirms our company as a world leader in microbubble barrier systems.”
Tailor-made for sites
Each of the projects was developed considering the environmental and oceanographic conditions present in the area, which were very different from those of the salmon farming sites located in the south of Chile.
“Our engineers had consider different temperatures, humidity, salinity, currents, depths and types of seabed, among other conditions,” explained Sepulveda.
He said the projects add to the more than 200 developments that the consortium has carried out, both in Chile and elsewhere, in various industries such as aquaculture and desalination.
