{"id":12611,"date":"2018-03-05T10:30:32","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T09:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=12611"},"modified":"2024-03-12T17:55:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:55:12","slug":"hemp-production-humidity-ventilation-ebm-papst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/refrigeration-ventilation\/hemp-production-humidity-ventilation-ebm-papst_12611\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy hemp thanks to perfect venti\u00adlation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philipp Schen\u00adnach and Jorma Lori look proudly over the fruits of their labor: several thou\u00adsand hemp plants swaying back and forth in the arti\u00adfi\u00adcial wind and illu\u00admi\u00adnated by 170 lamps simu\u00adlating the sun. In about three weeks, the harvest can begin. And none too soon; demand for the plant is huge. Hemp truly has many func\u00adtions. Its fibers can be used in textiles and even in the auto\u00admo\u00adbile industry, and the compounds in its flowers relieve pain, relax muscles and stim\u00adu\u00adlate the appetite, so the plant is gaining accep\u00adtance in the medical commu\u00adnity. And the oil from its seeds can even be used as fuel.<\/p>\n

But the consump\u00adtion of hemp is off limits in almost all coun\u00adtries. However, in Switzer\u00adland a deci\u00adsion by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) in 2016 really stirred up the market. The sale of hemp is now legal as long as the concen\u00adtra\u00adtion of the psychoac\u00adtive substance tetrahy\u00addro\u00adcannabinol, better known by its initials as THC, is under one percent. In this case, hemp counts as a tobacco substi\u00adtute. Schen\u00adnach and Lori have had lots to do since then. They work at BioCan AG, the first Swiss company permitted to produce and sell cannabis legally as a tobacco substi\u00adtute.<\/p>\n

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BioCan AG<\/h2>\n

The founder of the company, which is head\u00adquar\u00adtered in Thayngen, Switzer\u00adland, is Markus Walther, a pioneer in hemp produc\u00adtion who was advo\u00adcating its legal\u00adiza\u00adtion for sale as long ago as the 1990s. Through numerous hybridiza\u00adtions, he was able to breed a hemp plant with a THC concen\u00adtra\u00adtion below one percent. When the Federal Office of Public Health gave its approval in 2016, he and his company got to work. In addi\u00adtion to hemp for smoking, BioCan AG also supplies hemp oil and tablets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The deci\u00adsion by the FOPH was a huge oppor\u00adtu\u00adnity for Schen\u00adnach and Lori. Lori, actu\u00adally a carpenter by trade, is one of the founders of BioCan AG. He is the facility manager for culti\u00adva\u00adtion at its site in Bassers\u00addorf. Schen\u00adnach heard from an acquain\u00adtance that the company was looking for investors. Since he had some savings to spare, he invested. \u201cBut soon I wanted to be involved in hemp culti\u00adva\u00adtion myself, so I got involved in the oper\u00ada\u00adtional side of the busi\u00adness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schen\u00adnach is actu\u00adally a trained brewer. \u201cThere is common ground with beer, because hops are also a member of the hemp family.\u201d At BioCan AG, he took the posi\u00adtion of tech\u00adnical director for indoor produc\u00adtion, one of three produc\u00adtion methods along with green\u00adhouses and fields. \u201cThat way we spread the risks. Out in the fields, crop fail\u00adures can happen frequently. Indoors we\u2019re inde\u00adpen\u00addent of the seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/div>

Phillipp Schen\u00adnach and Jorma Lori inspect the plants. They can harvest up to 6 times per year. (Photo | Janosch Abel)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Among other factors BioCan decided to use ebm-papst fans because they are easy to install. (Photo | Janosch Abel)<\/p><\/div>\n

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The venti\u00adlation also regu\u00adlates the humidity, that is created when the plants are watered. (Photo | Janosch Abel)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hemp likes it windy<\/h2>\n

Schen\u00adnach and Lori approached their new task with enthu\u00adsiasm. In the indus\u00adtrial park in Bassers\u00addorf, a small commu\u00adnity near Zurich, they rented two floors in an office building, a total of 3,000 square meters. Then they were able to begin designing their facility. A crucial compo\u00adnent of their plan\u00adning was the venti\u00adlation. \u201cGood venti\u00adlation is very impor\u00adtant for the plants,\u201d says Schen\u00adnach. Hemp plants are actu\u00adally very unde\u00admanding.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGood venti\u00adlation is very impor\u00adtant for the plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philipp Schen\u00adnach, BioCan AG<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The valu\u00adable part is the buds on the female plants; the bigger they are the better. But the stems have to be strong enough to bear the weight of the buds. In the wild, the wind strengthens the plants. \u201cWe try to simu\u00adlate nature as well as we can indoors, so there should always be a light breeze there. To do that, we need good tech\u00adnology,\u201d explains Lori.<\/p>\n

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Hemp back\u00adground<\/h2>\n

Cannabis is the scien\u00adtific name for hemp. The valu\u00adable part is the buds on the female plant, which are host to over 80 cannabi\u00adnoids and over 400 active substances. The most impor\u00adtant cannabi\u00adnoids are the intox\u00adi\u00adcating tetrahy\u00addro\u00adcannabinol (THC) and the non-intox\u00adi\u00adcating cannabidiol (CBD). Hemp with a THC content of less than one percent is also called CBD hemp. Medi\u00adc\u00adinal effects are attrib\u00aduted to CBD. It\u2019s impor\u00adtant to keep the blos\u00adsoms from being fertil\u00adized by pollen, which would make them worth\u00adless.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A constant breeze also inhibits the growth of mold and mildew in the humidity arising from the plants\u2019 tran\u00adspi\u00adra\u00adtion. \u201cWe don\u2019t need any pesti\u00adcides at all.\u201d One advan\u00adtage of indoor produc\u00adtion is that the growth period can be controlled. \u201cHemp is actu\u00adally an annual plant. In spring and summer, it puts all of its energy into growth. When the days get shorter in the fall, the plant knows it\u2019s time to repro\u00adduce and it forms flowers.<\/p>\n

By control\u00adling the lighting, we can shorten this process and get up to six crops per year instead of just one.\u201d But the lamps with 600 or 1000 watts each generate a lot of heat, so cooling is another impor\u00adtant func\u00adtion of the venti\u00adlation system.<\/p>\n

Plan\u00adning for the facility<\/h2>\n

With these ideas in mind, Schen\u00adnach and Lori got to work on the design and began drawing up plans. They thought about how the fans had to be posi\u00adtioned for optimum air flow and calcu\u00adlated pres\u00adsure losses and the required air perfor\u00admance. They did research in the Internet to find suit\u00adable fans for their require\u00adments. When they saw the product video for the RadiPac centrifugal fan on the ebm-papst website, they knew: \u201cThat\u2019s the one!\u201d So Schen\u00adnach got in touch with ebm-papst.<\/p>\n

It was a some\u00adwhat unusual inquiry for Daniel Schefer at ebm-papst in Switzer\u00adland. \u201cIt\u2019s not every day that our prod\u00aducts are used for hemp produc\u00adtion.\u201d During an on-site visit, Schen\u00adnach explained to him that he was still looking for a solu\u00adtion to generate air flow over the entire 30-meter length of the room. For that, he needed fans with high air throw.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have a facility that\u2019s supe\u00adrior to many others, simply because we have good fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jorma Lori, BioCan AG<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Right away, Schefer thought of the AxiCool axial fans, which are normally used in cold stores but were a perfect fit for the require\u00adments. \u201cThey were much more compact than the fans I\u2019d seen else\u00adwhere, and easier to install,\u201d says Schen\u00adnach. That was impor\u00adtant, because the two did every\u00adthing them\u00adselves. They installed a total of 20 units on the ceiling, and two Radi\u00adPacs each for intake and exhaust.<\/p>\n

Schen\u00adnach and Lori are very satis\u00adfied with the results. \u201cWe have a facility that\u2019s supe\u00adrior to many others, simply because we have good fans,\u201d says Lori. And the next ordered fans are already waiting to be put to work on the remaining floor space. Of the 3,000 square meters in Bassers\u00addorf, BioCan is only using about 1,000, and the demand for legal hemp \u2013 not only from private consumers but also from whole\u00adsalers \u2013 isn\u2019t slowing down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philipp Schen\u00adnach and Jorma Lori look proudly over the fruits of their labor: several thou\u00adsand hemp plants swaying back and forth in the arti\u00adfi\u00adcial wind and illu\u00admi\u00adnated by 170 lamps simu\u00adlating the sun. In about three weeks, the harvest can begin. And none too soon; demand for the plant is huge. Hemp truly has many [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-refrigeration-ventilation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18624,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12611\/revisions\/18624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}