The application of nanobubble
technology for enhanced yields in
aquaculture production system
Division of Aquaculture, Department of Animal Sciences,
T
he metabolic rates of fish can be
severely affected by the concentration
of oxygen in a rearing environment.
Suppressed dissolved oxygen levels
leads to decreased respiration and feeding
activity that slows fish growth rates. It can
also lead to disease and fungal infections. If
correctly applied, oxygen supplementation
ensures that fish and seafood farmers can
achieve the highest possible survival rates
under optimum breeding conditions to boost
yields and profits.
The amount of any gas that can be held
in solution by water depends upon the
temperature and atmospheric pressure. It
is worth noting that whereas one litre of air
contains about 200 ml of oxygen, one litre
of water contains about 10 ml. Dissolved
oxygen concentration may also be expressed
as a percentage of the saturation value. The
amount of oxygen (as mgl-1) that gives 100%
saturation (ASV- Air Saturation Value) is given
by the equation:
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
Henk Stander
Stellenbosch University
100% ASV = 468/31.6 T
Where T is temperature in °C.
It is also worth noting that although the
capacity of water to hold oxygen in solution
decreases with rising temperature, the oxygen
needs of fish increases with temperature.
Dissolved oxygen concentrations may
show daily fluctuations that reflect the
photosynthetic activity of aquatic plants in
nature.
Water as a chemical compound:
Water is a transparent, tasteless, odourless,
and nearly colourless chemical substance,
which is the main constituent of Earth’s
streams, lakes, and oceans, and the fluids
of most living organisms. It is vital for all
known forms of life, even though it provides
no calories or organic nutrients. Its chemical
formula is H2O, meaning that each of its
molecules contains one oxygen and two
hydrogen atoms connected by covalent
bonds. Water is the name of the liquid state
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of H2O at standard ambient temperature and
pressure. It forms precipitation in the form of
rain and aerosols in the form of fog. Clouds
are formed from suspended droplets of water
and ice, its solid state. When finely divided,
crystalline ice may precipitate in the form of
snow. The gaseous state of water is steam or
water vapor. Water moves continually through
the water cycle of evaporation, transpiration
(evapotranspiration), condensation,
precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the
sea.
Water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface,
mostly in seas and oceans. Small portions
of water occur as groundwater (1.7%), in
the glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica
and Greenland (1.7%), and in the air as
vapor, clouds (formed of ice and liquid water
suspended in air), and precipitation (0.001%).
Water plays an important role in the
world economy. Approximately 70% of
the freshwater used by humans goes to
agriculture. Fishing in salt and fresh water
bodies is a major source of food for many
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
parts of the world. Much of long-distance trade
of commodities (such as oil and natural gas)
and manufactured products is transported by
boats through seas, rivers, lakes, and canals.
Large quantities of water, ice, and steam
are used for cooling and heating, in industry
and homes. Water is an excellent solvent for
a wide variety of chemical substances; as
such it is widely used in industrial processes,
and in cooking and washing. Water is also
central to many sports and other forms of
entertainment, such as swimming, pleasure
boating, boat racing, surfing, sport fishing, and
diving.
Density: 997 kg/m³
Boiling point: 100 °C
Molar mass: 18,01528 g/mol
Formula: H2O
Melting point: 0 °C
What is Nanobubbles (microbubbles)?
Nano bubbles are nanoscopic gaseous
(typically air) cavities in aqueous solutions
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that can change the normal characteristics
of water. Ordinary bubbles have a diameter
which range from 1 µm and larger. These
quickly rise to the surface of a liquid and
collapse. Nanobubbles which are < 100 nm in
diameter will randomly drift owing to what is
termed, Brownian Motion and can remain in
liquids for an extended period.
What is Nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology (“nanotech”) is manipulation
of matter on an atomic, molecular, and
supramolecular scale. The earliest, widespread
description of nanotechnology referred to the
technological goal of precisely manipulating
atoms and molecules for fabrication of
macroscale products, also now referred
to as molecular nanotechnology. A more
generalized description of nanotechnology
was subsequently established by the National
Nanotechnology Initiative, which defines
nanotechnology as the manipulation of matter
with at least one dimension sized from 1 to
100 nanometres. This definition reflects the
fact that quantum mechanical effects are
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
important at this quantum-realm scale, and
so the definition shifted from a technological
goal to a research category inclusive of all
types of research and technologies that deal
with the special properties of matter which
occur below the given size threshold. It is
therefore common to see the plural form
“nanotechnologies” as well as “nanoscale
technologies” to refer to the broad range of
research and applications whose common
trait is size. Because of the variety of potential
applications (including industrial and military),
governments have invested billions of dollars
in nanotechnology research. Through 2012,
the USA has invested $ 3.7 billion using
its National Nanotechnology Initiative, the
European Union has invested $ 1.2 billion, and
Japan has invested $ 750 million.
Nanotechnology as defined by size is naturally
very broad, including fields of science as
diverse as surface science, organic chemistry,
molecular biology, semiconductor physics,
energy storage, microfabrication, molecular
engineering, etc. The associated research and
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applications are equally diverse, ranging from The Application of Nanotechnology in
extensions of conventional device physics Aquaculture:
to completely new approaches based upon Application of microbubble generators
molecular self-assembly, from developing new to aquaculture was studied in the 1980s
materials with dimensions on the nanoscale to because various farms including shellfish
direct control of matter on the atomic scale. culture and fish culture suffered from
shortage of oxygen supply due to high-density
Scientists currently debate the future
culturing. Prof Hirofumi Ohnari, Tokuyama
implications of nanotechnology.
College of Technology in Japan, invented
Nanotechnology may be able to create many
a microbubble generator and used it to
new materials and devices with a vast range
control DO levels of the water in an oyster
of applications, such as in nanomedicine,
farm in Hiroshima Bay, in Seto Inland Sea.
nano-electronics, biomaterials energy
His original microbubble generator adopts
production, and consumer products. On the
a nozzle that creates a “Rotational Flow of
other hand, nanotechnology raises many
the water” in the nozzle, using a water pump
of the same issues as any new technology,
and produces microbubbles, breaking the air
including concerns about the toxicity and
leading to the centre of the rotational flow of
environmental impact of nanomaterials, and
the water. He demonstrated that the addition
their potential effects on global economics,
of microbubbles is very effective to add
as well as speculation about various
oxygen to the water of the oyster farm, and
doomsday scenarios. These concerns have
this technology drew the attention of many
led to a debate among advocacy groups and
researchers, and various types of microbubble
governments on whether special regulation of
generators have been invented in the last
nanotechnology is justified.
decade in Japan.

AgriKultuur |AgriCulture 18
Researchers from the Prefectural University
of Kumamoto in Japan conducted DO control
experiments in a fish farm on red seabream
with the microbubble generating system in
Kusuura Bay, Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture,
Kyushu, western Japan, between 2003 and
2007. The water depth of the bay was between
16 and 20 m at the centre of the bay. The
annual temperature of the surface water
ranged from 19.7°C to 29.3°C between May
and October 2007. This study was financially
supported by a Research and Development
Program for New Bio-industry Initiatives
of the Bio-oriented Technology Research
Advancement Institution of Japan.
The results of the experiments indicate that
the control of DO levels of water in the net pen
using the microbubble generator improved
the growth rate of the fish significantly. In the
control net pen, the body weight of the fish
was 1.25 ± 0.17 kg in wet weight (mean ± SD,
n = 30) at the beginning of the experiment
on June 18, 2007, and they gained 1.39 ±
0.25 kg and 1.70 ± 0.26 kg by August 8 (50
days later) and October 3, 2007 (108 days
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
later), respectively. In the experimental net
pen, the body weight of the fish was 1.19 ±
0.24 kg in wet weight (mean ± SD, n = 30),
slightly lighter than that of the control net
pen at the beginning of the experiment. The
difference in the mean body weight between
the experimental net pen and the control
net pen was not statistically significant (p =
0.15, Mann–Whitney’s U test, n = 30). The fish
grew faster than that in the control net pen.
The body weight reached 1.83 ± 0.21 kg in
wet weight at the end of the experiment (108
days later), which was 0.13 kg heavier than
that in the control net pen. The difference
in body weight between these two net pens
was statistically significant (p = 0.02, Mann–
Whitney’s U test, n = 30). The increase in the
body weight of the fish in the experimental
net pen during the period of the experiment
for 108 days was 0.64 kg in wet weight, which
was 42% more than that in the control net pen
(0.45 kg).
In the experimental net pen, the body weight
of the fish was 1.33 ± 0.22 kg in wet weight
(mean ± SD, n = 30), slightly heavier than that
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of the control net pen at the beginning of the
experiment. The difference in the mean body
weight between the experimental net pen
and the control net pen was not statistically
significant (p = 0.15, Mann–Whitney’s U test,
n = 30). The fish grew faster with almost
the same growth rate as the fish reared in
the experimental net pen for 50 days (The
growth rates of fish in the experimental
net pens were 1.19 and 1.21, respectively,
while that in the control net pen was 1.11).
The body weight of the fish reached 1.61 ±
0.21 kg in wet weight 50 days later from the
start, which was 0.22 kg heavier than that
in the control net pen. The difference of the
mean body weight between these two net
pens already became statistically significant
(p < 0.01, Mann–Whitney’s U test, n = 30).
Thus, DO control of the water in the net pen
using the microbubble generator can bring a
remarkable acceleration of growth to the fish.
Conclusion:
The results suggested that oxygen saturation
levels affect the growth performance of fish
(red seabream) and bivalves (oysters) in
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
general. The maximum growth rate and lowest
feed conversion ratio for fish can be attained
at higher oxygen saturation levels between
90% and 120%. However, more research is
needed in order to know at which saturation
point the growth is maximized for individual
aquaculture species.
A nanobubble generator can increase the
dissolved oxygen in the cultivation media
from the initial DO level to a much higher level
up to 30 ppm as was tested in Stellenbosch
previously.
Regarding future experimental work, the
results of these trials should be reconfirmed
and given more time so that more
observations can be made. The actual oxygen
saturation point at which a fish species has a
maximum growth should be identified, hence
more experimentation is needed.
E-mail: hbs@sun.ac.za
Pictures from Google images.
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