8.1 Introduction
As discussed in Chaps. 5 and 7, single-loop aquaponics systems are well-researched, but such systems have a suboptimal overall efficiency (Goddek et al. 2016; Goddek and Keesman 2018). As aquaponics scales up to industrial-level production, there has been emphasis on increasing the economic viability of such systems. One of the best opportunities to optimize production in terms of harvest yield can be accomplished by uncoupling the components within an aquaponics system to ensure optimal growth conditions for both fish and plants. Decoupled systems differ from coupled systems insomuch as they separate the water and nutrient loops of both the aquaculture and hydroponics unit from each another and thus provide a control of the water chemistry in both systems. Figure 8.1 provides a schematic overview of a traditional coupled system (A), a decoupled two-loop system (B), and a decoupled multi-loop system (C). However, there is considerable debate whether decoupled aquaponics systems are economically advantageous over more traditional systems, given that they require more infrastructure. In order to answer that question, it is necessary to consider different system designs in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
The concept of a coupled one-loop aquaponics system as shown in Fig. 8.1a can be regarded as the traditional basis of all aquaponics systems in which water recirculates freely between the aquaculture and hydroponics units, while nutrientrich sludge is discharged. One of the key drawbacks of such systems is that it is necessary to make trade-offs in the rearing conditions of both subsystems in terms of pH, temperature, and nutrient concentrations (Table 8.1).
Fig. 8.1 The evolution of aquaponics systems. (a) shows a traditional one-loop aquaponics system, (b) a simple decoupled aquaponics system, and (c) a decoupled multi-loop aquaponics system. The blue font stands for water input, output, and flows and the red for waste products
In contrast, decoupled or two-loop aquaponics systems separate the aquaculture and aquaponics units from each other (Fig. 8.1b). Here, the sizing of the hydroponic unit is a critical aspect, because ideally it needs to assimilate the nutrients provided by the fish unit directly or via sludge mineralization (e.g. extracting nutrients from the sludge and providing it to the plants in a soluble form). Indeed, both the plant area size and environmental conditions (e.g. surface, leaf area index, relative humidity, solar radiation, etc.) determine the amount of water that can be evapotranspired and are the main factors determining the rate of RAS water replacement. The water sent from the RAS to the hydroponic unit is consequently replaced by clean water which reduces nutrient concentrations and thus improves water quality (Monsees et al. 2017a, b). The amount of water that can be replaced depends on evapotranspiration rate of plants that is controlled by net radiation, temperature, wind velocity, relative humidity, and crop species. Notably, there is a seasonal dependency, with more water evaporated in the warmer, sunnier seasons which is also when plant growth rates are highest. This approach has been suggested by Goddek et al. (2015) and Kloas et al. (2015) as an approach for improving the design of one-loop systems and better utilizing capacity to assure optimal plant growth performance. The concept has been adopted, inter alia, by ECF in Berlin, Germany, and the now bankrupt UrbanFarmers in The Hague, Netherlands.
Despite potential benefits, initial experiments with a decoupled single-loop design met with serious drawbacks. This resulted from the high amounts of additional nutrients that were needed to be added to the hydroponic loop given that the process water flowing from the RAS to the hydroponics loop is purely evapotranspiration dependent (Goddek et al. 2016; Kloas et al. 2015; Reyes Lastiri et al. 2016). Nutrients also tended to accumulate in the RAS systems when evapotranspiration rates were lower, and could reach critical levels, thus requiring periodic bleeding off of water (Goddek 2017).
Overcoming these drawbacks required the implementation of additional loops to reduce the amount of waste produced in the system (Goddek and Körner 2019). Such multi-loop systems are outlined in Fig. 8.1c and enhance the two-loop approach (8.1b) with two units that will be more closely explored in the next two subchapters as well as Chaps. 10 and 11:
Efficient nutrient mineralization and mobilization, using a two-stage anaerobic reactor system to reduce the discharge of nutrients from the system via fish sludge
Thermal distillation/desalination technology to concentrate the nutrient solutionin the hydroponics unit in order to reduce the need for additional fertilizers
Such approaches have been partly implemented by various aquaponics producers such as the Spanish company NerBreen (Fig. 8.1) (Goddek and Keesman 2018) as well as Kikaboni AgriVentures Ltd. in Nairobi, Kenya, (van Gorcum et al. 2019) (Fig. 8.2).
Fig. 8.2 Pictures of existing multi-loop system in (1) Spain (NerBreen) and (2) Kenya (Kikaboni AgriVentures Ltd.). Whereas the NerBreen System is located in a controlled environment, the Kikaboni System is using a semi-open foil-tunnel system
In terms of economic advantages (Goddek and Körner 2019; Delaide et al. 2016), optimizing growth conditions in each respective loop of decoupled aquaponics systems has inherent advantages for both plants and fish (Karimanzira et al. 2016; Kloas et al. 2015) by reducing waste discharge as well as improving nutrient recovery and supply (Goddek and Keesman 2018; Karimanzira et al. 2017; Yogev et al. 2016). In their work, Delaide et al. (2016), Goddek and Vermeulen (2018), and Woodcock (pers. Comm.) show that decoupled aquaponics systems achieve better growth performance than their respective one-loop aquaponics and hydroponics control groups. Despite this, there are various problems that still need to be resolved, including technical issues such as system scaling, parameter optimization, and engineering choices for greenhouse technologies for different regional scenarios. In the rest of this chapter, we will focus on some of the current developments to provide an overview of ongoing challenges, as well as promising developments in the field.