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"We Store CO2 From The Outside Air To Make Plants Grow Faster"
“Our ultimate goal is to make greenhouses independent of fossil fuels while improving their crop yield”, says Jarle. This ambitious goal is the main motivation behind their unique, yet a straightforward new product: an environmental climate system that provides plants inside of the greenhouse with outside CO2.
Bringing captured CO2 into the greenhouse with zeolites
“In short, we capture CO2 from the air outside and then release it inside the greenhouse. As our system includes the greenhouse to be a closed system, all the CO2 inside will increase plant growth. This new technology does not give any emissions to its surroundings while in use and the solution is 100% climate-neutral”, Jarle Skjæveland with GreenCap Solutions explains. The company recently launched their product, and they are working on several projects in Norway and abroad.
“Our ultimate goal is to make greenhouses independent of fossil fuels while improving their crop yield”, says Jarle. This ambitious goal is the main motivation behind their unique, yet straight forward new product: an environmental climate system that provides plants inside of the greenhouse with outside CO2. On top of that, it allows for the reuse of condensed water, which further reduces costs for growers.
GreenCap Solution’s technical team combines decades of energy in the oil and gas industry, which is now taken to the greenhouse industry. For the past four years, they have been working on the carbon-capturing technique. Last year, they started working with the first greenhouse company to apply the technique: Lauvsnes Gartneri, a tomato greenhouse in Finnøy, Norway. The second project they started this year is with a Norwegian cucumber grower.
Zeolites: a tried method
For the capturing of the CO2 molecules, the company uses zeolites, a porous mineral that can adsorb large quantities of gas. Zeolites occur naturally but are also produced industrially. “Using zeolites as carbon adsorbent is nothing new. It was already used in the 1960s for industrial applications. Our invention is effectively using the energy and storing the CO2 for greenhouse application, in combination with climate control within the greenhouse,” Jarle explains.
Inside the greenhouse, the CO2 is transported by a constant air flow. “With the greenhouse closed on a sunny day, the temperature might get too high. For that reason, we have a circulation system that shifts the air every 10 minutes. Air tubes underneath the plants produce a constant low-speed airflow. This way, the temperature inside can be a comfortable 24 C even in a hot climate,” Jarle adds.
Vertical farming in Saudi Arabia
This technique comes in handy as the company recently started a new project in Saudi Arabia. This time not with a greenhouse but with a vertical farm that grows eight layers of lettuce. “When we visited Saudi Arabia some months ago, we noticed that some people were skeptical as to our technology would work in a hot climate too. With this new project, we are proving that our technique works, not only for different crops in different growing systems but also in different climates. And the additional benefit is that there we can make better use of solar power as well, taking advantage of the natural resources available.”
In many European countries, growers generally have a combined heat power (CHP) that already provides additional CO2 to growers. But according to Jarle, the systems can be combined easily. “Our technique is twofold: either we replace the current CO2 source or we add it to the closed growth environment. Both work fine together, but with our system, growers can stop using fossil fuels completely while still giving that beneficial CO2 to their plants. Besides, many countries do not need the extra heat provided by the CHP, at least not year-round. In that case, working with a CHP is not cost-effective.”
Already within the horticultural industry, GreenCap’s environmental climate control system can have many different applications. But the company is already investigating other possible usages of their carbon adsorbent technique. “CO2 is used in other industries too, so we are investigating other expansion already, such as companies absorbing their CO2 emission. However, horticulture is such a vast and rapidly growing industry. Imagine this huge industry, that is so essential for the food production of the entire world, being totally emission-free. That is what we’re working for.”
A promotional video of GreenCap Solution's system can be watched here.
For more information:
GreenCap Solutions
www.greencap-solutions.com
Publication date: Fri 4 Jun 2021
Author: Jenneken Schouten
© HortiDaily.com
Polygreens Podcast Episode: 008 -CO2 GRO
CO2 from a gas tank and water from the facility source are plugged into the Aqueous CO2 Infusion System, which comes as an in-situ system or can be integrated into booms
CO2 from a gas tank and water from the facility source are plugged into the Aqueous CO2 Infusion System, which comes as an in-situ system or can be integrated into booms. The CO2 completely dissolves in the water creating a saturated aqueous CO2 solution.
The aqueous CO2 solution is targeted directly on to the plant's leaves by misting micro droplets that create an aqueous CO2 film on leaf's surface. This film isolates the leaf surface from the atmosphere and creates a diffusion gradient that favors the transport of CO2 into the leaf and other gasses out of the leaf.
The carbon is used by the plant for photosynthesis to grow and the oxygen is given off to the atmosphere.
Listen
Nick Greens
The Nick Greens Grow Team has participated in many changes since they started developing indoor controlled agricultural environments in 2010. Our goal is to expand the vertical farming industry by helping ag-entrepreneurs manage their businesses better, avoid common mistakes, and improve crop yields based on what we have observed and developed over the past decade.
YouTube
Can CO2 Help Grow More Food And Reduce Land Use?
Supplementing crops with CO2 is one method of increasing yield since CO2 is a basic input for photosynthesis. CO2 supplementation is done by increasing the level of CO2 in the air. CO2 Delivery Solutions is helping plants grow more in less land while increasing a grower's profitability without harm to people or the planet. For more information on how CO2 Delivery Solutions works, watch this video or visit co2delivery.ca
CO2GRO
October 9, 2019
As our population continues to grow at a rate of about 1% a year, or nearly 80 million more living people per year, food security is becoming a major concern. You may look at the 1% number and think, “well we only need to increase food production by 1% a year to keep up with population growth.” However, as you likely are aware, there are many on Earth who eat very little, not out of choice. According to the Food Aid Foundation one in seven people are underfed and undernourished. From this perspective, food production would need to increase by about 15% in these parts of the world in order to provide sufficient nutrition to these people and then increase by a further 1% per year in order to keep up with the net population growth. This means more land will be required to grow more food.
According to the USGS global cropland is approximately 4.62 billion acres. According to the site: “Croplands make up more than 80 percent of Moldova, San Marino and Hungary; between 70 and 80 percent of Denmark, Ukraine, Ireland and Bangladesh; and 60 to 70 percent of the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Lithuania, Poland, Gaza Strip, Czech Republic, Italy and India. For comparison, the United States and China each have 18 percent croplands.” Globally, cropland makes up approximately 12.5% of the Earth’s land mass - Earth’s land mass is approximately 37 billion acres. India, the US, China and Russia account for one third of the global cropland with 1.62 billion acres.
There are over 415 million acres of cropland in the US which equates to approximately 1.25 acres of cropland required to make sufficient food per person - assuming the same 1.25 acres is used to grow food for the lifespan of a person living in the US (this figure does not factor imports or exports of crops). India and China on the other hand, two rapidly growing economies and populations, have only 0.35 acres of cropland per person.
Focusing on China and India as proxies for the developing world and the US as a proxy for the developed world, developing countries would require up to 3.5 times more crop land per person based on their populations to become on par with food production in the developed world. This would mean if every person in the world had the same food security as a citizen in the developed world, we would require about 9.6 billion acres or double the current cropland. That’s an increase from 12.5% of the Earth’s land mass to 26%, just to grow crops!
Yields have improved but there is room for improvement.
Crop yields have increased significantly over the past 30 to 40 years and continue to increase with better agricultural technologies, therefore requiring less and less cropland per person. However, the reality is the world will likely require doubling the amount of cropland use in order to adequately feed the world’s population with sufficient amounts of nutritious crops.
Supplementing crops with CO2 is one method of increasing yield since CO2 is a basic input for photosynthesis. CO2 supplementation is done by increasing the level of CO2 in the air. Indoor grow facilities can pump CO2 gas into the grow rooms to increase the amount of CO2 in the air from 400 parts per million (ppm) to 800-1600 ppm. This practice has been done for decades and has resulted in increased yields and faster growth of 30% on average.
However, indoor grow facilities are few and most crops are grown in greenhouses and outdoor farms. Greenhouses account for only 50 billion square feet globally (1.15 million acres) or 0.025% of total global cropland. 80% of greenhouses cannot gas CO2 in the facility since venting allows the CO2 gas to escape. Of course, outdoor farms cannot pump CO2 gas into the air either.
Imagine if the world’s four and a half billion acres of outdoor cropland could increase their yield by over 30% simply by adding CO2. We could theoretically save 30% of the additional cropland required over the coming decades to feed people. That’s approximately one and a half billion acres or 4% of the Earth’s land mass that could be kept untouched and natural.
How then can we supplement CO2 for plants grown in warm climate greenhouses and outdoor farms?
CO2 Gro Inc.'s patented CO2 Delivery Solutions enables growers in warm climate greenhouses and outdoor farms to supplement their plants with CO2, so growers everywhere can get more yield, bigger plants and faster growth - which means less land use to produce more food.
How is this done? CO2 Delivery Solutions' creates an aqueous CO2 solution that is applied to the plant's foliage. The plants easily absorb the CO2 in the solution within seconds. The plant can now use that added CO2 to grow bigger, faster and use less land to produce more food.
CO2 Delivery Solutions is helping plants grow more in less land while increasing a grower's profitability without harm to people or the planet. For more information on how CO2 Delivery Solutions works, watch this video or visit co2delivery.ca
CO2 Enrichment, Acclimation, And Efficiency In Hydroponic Growing
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an essential requirement for photosynthesis and can be somewhat overlooked by newer growers. Being odorless, invisible, and only a small fraction of our atmosphere, CO2 often doesn’t get the same attention as nutrients, lights, and other plant-growth factors
Lynette Morgan | August 23, 2019
Takeaway: While many commercial growers use carbon dioxide to boost crop quality, yield, and growth rates, Lynette Morgan explains how home hydroponic horticulturists can also take advantage of CO2 enrichment.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an essential requirement for photosynthesis and can be somewhat overlooked by newer growers. Being odorless, invisible, and only a small fraction of our atmosphere, CO2 often doesn’t get the same attention as nutrients, lights, and other plant-growth factors.
The use of CO2 enrichment to boost yields, quality, and growth rates under hydroponic production is, however, widely used in commercial greenhouse horticulture and has an even greater potential in enclosed growing spaces. While simply pumping in some additional CO2 may seem like a straightforward option, the use of this technology is a little more complex if its potential is to be maximized and problems minimized.
CO2 Enrichment
Ambient CO2 levels in air are a little more than 400 ppm (or 0.04 per cent by volume), however, plant tissue contains an average of 45 per cent carbon that comes entirely from CO2. By boosting CO2 levels surrounding the leaf surface, above ambient levels, the rate of photosynthesis increases up until the point where some other factor, such as the speed at which plant enzymes will work, is reached.
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Essentially, the transfer of CO2 from the surrounding air to the reaction centers in the leaf chloroplasts depends both on the concentration difference between the air and these sites, and the intervening biochemical resistance in various leaf tissues. This means that while CO2 enrichment will boost photosynthesis, there comes a point were further increases will not occur and plant damage becomes a possibility. Determining this optimal level of CO2 enrichment for a particular plant or stage of growth is where the application of CO2 needs some careful thought.
Carbon dioxide enrichment has become more popular in recent times with hydroponic growers using a range of low- and high-tech options to boost CO2 levels. The most common methods of generating CO2 include burning hydrocarbon fuels and the use of compressed, bottled CO2. Smaller growers with a very limited growing space may use dry ice (solid, very cold CO2) which releases CO2 as it “melts” under warm conditions.
Fermentation or the decomposition of organic matter (composting and fungi) are still effective but less accurate ways of boosting CO2 levels through natural processes. Whichever method is used to generate CO2, levels should be regularly monitored, either with a hand-held CO2 meter or as part of the environmental control system in the growing area.
Read also: The Benefits of Adding CO2 During the Cloning Stage
Enrichment levels
If CO2 enrichment is to be applied, then determining the correct level is as important with this gaseous element as it is with nutrient levels. The benefits and levels of CO2enrichment is crop dependent, but most plants respond well to levels in the range of 500–1,500ppm. Below 200ppm, CO2 begins to severely limit plant growth, but more than 2,000ppm of CO2 becomes toxic to many plants.
More than 4,000ppm is a risk to humans. An excess of CO2 will cause crop damage in the form of CO2 toxicity, which is often misdiagnosed as mineral deficiencies or disease symptoms. Mild CO2 toxicity can cause stunting of growth, or leaf-aging type symptoms, while excessive levels may cause leaf damage such as chlorosis (yellowing), necrosis (death of leaf tissue), curling and/or thickening of the leaves.
There is much debate over which level of enrichment is ideal for each crop, under various different growing conditions, however, the most economic use of CO2 is in enriching crops to above ambient levels, but not more than 1,200ppm. Most commercial growers enrich to within the range of 600-800ppm where an increase in growth and yields of between 20-30 per cent are common.
While CO2 enrichment is largely used on fruiting crops such as tomatoes, capsicum, and cucumber, it can benefit a wide range of plant species. Indoor gardens with ornamental, potted, and flowering plants also respond to CO2 enrichment with increased rates of growth and leaf area, increased rates of flowering, more lateral breaks, earlier flowering, greater flower number, reduced flower drop, and increased flower diameter as well as improved leaf color and reduced time to maturity. Carbon dioxide also assists with root development on cuttings and clones in many species and may be applied via enrichment of the air or through the use of carbonated mist.
CO2 Efficiency
To make the most of CO2 enrichment, other growth factors need to be considered and manipulated. Carbon dioxide enrichment will produce the best results in terms of plant growth, yield increases, and shortening the time to maturity where there is high light to power rapid levels of photosynthesis.
If light is insufficient or below the light saturation point for the crop, then boosted CO2levels cannot be fully utilized by the plants. Temperature also plays a role in the efficient use of CO2. Under conditions of high light and CO2 enrichment, temperatures can be run higher than they would normally, and this maximizes the effect of additional CO2.
Studies have shown that for tomato plants, a threefold level of CO2 enrichment will increase net photosynthesis by about 50 per cent in both dull and bright light, but if leaf temperature is also raised (to 86°F), the increase in net CO2 fixation can be as high as 100 per cent in bright light. This means that while boosting CO2 in an indoor hydroponic system will boost growth rates, consideration should be given at the same time to manipulation of the other environmental factors of light and temperature if the valuable CO2 is to be used with the highest degree of efficiency.
Another often overlooked factor is CO2 distribution around the plants. Simply releasing or generating CO2 for enrichment into the growing area is often not sufficient to get the maximum rate of photosynthesis unless this is directed and circulated over leaf surfaces. A stale boundary layer of moist air, depleted in CO2 due to photosynthesis, can form directly around the leaf surface and this needs frequent removal and replenishment.
Whatever source of CO2 generation is being used, it is vital that the enriched atmosphere is thoroughly mixed so the valuable CO2 is delivered to plant surfaces for uptake and assimilation. Small mixer fans can be used to gently circulate the air away from the source of CO2 generation and toward the crop.
To monitor this process, hand-held CO2 meters are useful to check levels in and around the canopy rather than just at the point of CO2 release. Keeping a check on CO2 levels inside a small growing area is vitally important, no matter what the source of CO2 used. It can be difficult to judge how much CO2 the plants are taking up and in tightly sealed growing environments, CO2 accumulation can occur and cause plant damage.
Read also: The Symbiotic Relationship Between CO2 and Ventilation
CO2 Acclimation
CO2 enrichment is undoubtedly a great growth-promoting tool for hydroponic growers, however, it has its limitations and risks.
Plants have the ability to adjust and adapt to increasing CO2 levels, so that over time, acclimation occurs. When CO2 enrichment is first introduced to a crop, there is a rapid increase in photosynthesis and growth, but as plant growth continues, the effect of the increased CO2 levels becomes less and less so that by the time the crop is completed, overall yields were not as high as the increase in early yield.
Numerous studies have reported this effect with plants grown continuously at high CO2 levels having a photosynthetic rate that tends to decrease with time. If a crop grown at elevated CO2 levels is suddenly given only ambient CO2, it will recover back to normal rates of photosynthesis within five days.
Some growers have attempted to prevent this acclimation of crops to high CO2 levels by only supplying CO2 intermittently, or avoiding the use of CO2 enrichment until a vital stage of development, such as flowering or fruit set, has been reached when the boost in photoassimilate is most valuable to yields. Studies have shown the problem of CO2 acclimation can be reduced or eliminated if the plant has strong “sinks” for the assimilate produced in the leaves.
These sinks for assimilate include rapidly developing tissues such as buds, flowers, and fruits. Plants with a low sink strength often end up with carbohydrate accumulating in the leaves under CO2 enrichment, which in turn triggers acclimation and a reduction in photosynthesis. Despite the issue of plant acclimation to high CO2levels limiting the overall potential boost to growth, CO2-enriched plants still produce photosynthetic rates higher than those grown at ambient CO2 levels.
Carbon dioxide enrichment is a worthwhile tool for indoor and greenhouse growers which is well proven in a wide range of crop species to increase growth rates and yields. However, as with most high-tech techniques, it requires monitoring, attention to detail, and careful consideration of the effect on biochemical processes. If CO2 is to be used at maximum efficiency, correct rates of application, adjustments to light and temperature, timing of enrichment, and consequences of CO2 acclimation all need consideration.
Written by Lynette Morgan
Dr. Lynette Morgan holds a B. Hort. Tech. degree and a PhD in hydroponic greenhouse production from Massey University, New Zealand. Lynette is a partner with Suntec International Hydroponic Consultants and has authored several hydroponic technical books. Visit suntec.co.nz for more information. Full Bio