Aeration

Olympias side channel blowers for water aeration are top-tier solutions and deliver quality, reliability, value, and performance.

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Water aeration is often necessary in water bodies that suffer from anoxic conditions, such as sewage discharges, agricultural run-off, fishing lakes. There are many ways to aerate a pond or tank, including paddle wheels, fountains and surface aerators but one of the most efficient and successful ways to achieve aeration and mixing can be achieved through the infusion of air into the bottom of the tank or pond.

Olympias Side Channel Blower / Vacuum pumps are ideal for aerating (increasing the oxygen levels) and mixing water in small to medium size bodies of water such as tanks, ponds and small lakes.

Fine bubble aeration

Fine bubble aeration is an efficient way to transfer oxygen to a water body. An Olympias Side Channel Blower, on shore, pumps air through a hose, which is connected to an underwater aeration unit. Attached to the unit are a number of diffusers.

Olympias supply either disc or tube diffusers. Air pumped through the diffuser membranes is released into the water. These bubbles are known as fine bubbles (less than 2mm dia). This type of aeration has a very high oxygen transfer efficiency (OTE).

Fine bubble diffused aeration is able to maximize the surface area of the bubbles and thus transfer more oxygen to the water per bubble. Additionally, smaller bubbles take more time to reach the surface so not only is the surface area maximized but so are the number of seconds each bubble spends in the water, allowing it more time to transfer oxygen to the water. As a general rule, smaller bubbles and a deeper release point will generate a greater oxygen transfer rate. One of the drawback of fine bubble aeration is that the fine bubbles do not possess the ability to mix the water as well as other aeration techniques, such as coarse bubble aeration.

Coarse bubble aeration

Coarse bubble aeration is similar in concept to fine bubble aeration in that an Olympias Side Channel Blower, on shore, pumps air through a hose, which is connected to an underwater aeration unit. The unit expels coarse air bubbles (greater than 2mm dia) which release oxygen when they come into contact with the water. An advantage of coarse bubble aeration is that the bubbles cause a turbulent displacement of water which helps to mix the water and any stratified layers. In comparison with fine bubble aeration, coarse bubble aeration is very poor at oxygenating the water.