{"id":15935,"date":"2022-02-28T07:45:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T06:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=15935"},"modified":"2024-03-12T17:53:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:53:20","slug":"artisan-green-singapore-vertical-farming-radical-ec-ventilator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/refrigeration-ventilation\/artisan-green-singapore-vertical-farming-radical-ec-ventilator_15935\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh vegeta\u00adbles from the heart of the city"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those who visit Jaime Tan at his place of work can\u2019t believe what they see. Tan works for Artisan Green and the company culti\u00advates spinach, baby kale, and herbs. However, you will not find any fields here. Instead, the General Manager\u2019s desk is located on the fourth floor of a commer\u00adcial building in Singa\u00adpore. Growing vegeta\u00adbles in the middle of the city? Jaime Tan laughs and explains, \u201cWe specialize in hydro\u00adponics. The roots of our plants are not in the ground but are suspended in a nutrient solu\u00adtion, which contains a mixture of water and dissolved nutri\u00adents. They grow in plant racks instead of on farm\u00adland.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is also one of the major advan\u00adtages of vertical gardening: it saves a lot of space. This means that the method fits perfectly into the densely popu\u00adlated metrop\u00adolis Singa\u00adpore and with the \u201c30 by 30\u201d program. With this initia\u00adtive, the govern\u00adment of the city state intends to cover around a third of the food demand with local food prod\u00aducts by 2030. With the motto \u201cfrom lab to table,\u201d it subsi\u00addizes inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive ideas. Ideas such as the busi\u00adness model of Artisan Green, which was launched in 2018.<\/p>\n

A staff member of Artisan Green checks the growth of his green prot\u00e9g\u00e9s in the vertical gardening farm in Singa\u00adpore. (Photo: Artisan Green)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Less is more<\/h2>\n

\nJaime Tan explains: \u201cOur farm is a labo\u00adra\u00adtory where we can try out how we can opti\u00admize produc\u00adtion. It is still not about large quan\u00adti\u00adties.\u201d Artisan Green is still growing: initially, the team harvested around eight kilo\u00adgrams of baby spinach per week, now it is harvesting as much as 60 to 70 kilo\u00adgrams. In addi\u00adtion, the area avail\u00adable for growing prod\u00aducts has been expanded from 10 to 60 percent. The product range has also grown: in addi\u00adtion to spinach, it is now also growing red baby kale, dill and cilantro. Basil, thyme and sage are to follow.<\/p>\n

\nYou can buy the leafy vegeta\u00adbles in various super\u00admar\u00adkets in Singa\u00adpore. \u201cAt the begin\u00adning, some customers were crit\u00adical and thought that many chem\u00adi\u00adcals would be used for indoor planting. The oppo\u00adsite is the case. The plants are protected from pests, so we do not need pesti\u00adcides.\u201d And they also live up to outdoor vari\u00adeties in terms of taste. Hydro\u00adponics also saves water: the nutrient solu\u00adtion is filtered and then reused. In other words, it is a closed cycle.<\/p>\n

\nA sensi\u00adtive matter<\/h2>\n

\nBefore Jaime Tan leads visi\u00adtors through produc\u00adtion, they all have to put on protec\u00adtive clothing. If germs or impu\u00adri\u00adties get into the closed space, it can impair growth or even destroy the entire harvest. \u201cThe system is very sensi\u00adtive. Even slight fluc\u00adtu\u00ada\u00adtions in temper\u00ada\u00adture, humidity, pH value or the nutrient mixture have a direct impact on the growth of the plants,\u201d explains Tan and points to the metal racks where their deli\u00adcate baby spinach and red baby kale are sprouting, under arti\u00adfi\u00adcial light and in optimum condi\u00adtions. The team researched these condi\u00adtions over the past year. \u201cWe already know a lot but are getting to know our plants and their needs better and better,\u201d says Tan.<\/p>\n

\nTiny spoil\u00adsports<\/h2>\n

\nPartic\u00adular atten\u00adtion is paid to the air quality in the farm. After all, this is what largely decides whether spinach and other leafy vegeta\u00adbles will grow as they should. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as hydro\u00adcar\u00adbons, alco\u00adhols and organic acids, play a crit\u00adical role here. The parti\u00adcles are a few microm\u00ade\u00adters in size and are always present in indoor air. If their concen\u00adtra\u00adtion is too high, they can influ\u00adence plant growth and the maturing process. A mobile air filter regu\u00adlates the VOC levels.<\/p>\n

\n

The system is very sensi\u00adtive. Even slight fluc\u00adtu\u00ada\u00adtions in temper\u00ada\u00adture or humidity have a direct impact on plant growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jaime Tan, General Manager at Artisan Green<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nGood air for fresh vegeta\u00adbles<\/h2>\n

The RadiCal can hack it: the mobile air filter required a high perfor\u00admance in a small space. (Photo: Artisan Green)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Jaime Tan walks over to the 500 by 920 millimeter metal cube on rollers located in one of the aisles. \u201cWe devel\u00adoped the device specially for this task. We use an acti\u00advated carbon filter through which a fan blows the ambient air. Our filter supplier recom\u00admended ebm-papst,\u201d recalls Tan. All parties involved worked closely together when devel\u00adoping and designing the filter unit.<\/p>\n

Senior design and appli\u00adca\u00adtion engi\u00adneer Mr. Hiew Chung Ka from ebm-papst in Singa\u00adpore visited Artisan Green and recom\u00admended a RadiCal EC centrifugal fan with a diam\u00adeter of 280 millime\u00adters. \u201cThe air filter unit must fit into the narrow aisles, so there is limited space. With its compact design and high perfor\u00admance, the RadiCal was a perfect fit,\u201d he recalls. \u201cTogether with Jaime Tan and his devel\u00adop\u00adment team, we looked at how much space we needed around the fan. This resulted in an optimum aero\u00addy\u00adnamic design for the air filter unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fan is currently running at 50 percent of its maxi\u00admum speed, which is suffi\u00adcient for the current growing space. If the farm expands, the speed can be increased. Tan and his team noticed imme\u00addi\u00adately after it was first used, \u201cIt is very quiet! Our air filter is an impor\u00adtant but also incon\u00adspic\u00aduous element in our farm.\u201d He adds with a laugh, \u201cWe have not had to do anything for it since it arrived. It is doing its job!\u201d It is not only Jaime Tan who is pleased: the plants are also thriving on their shelves.\u2002<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those who visit Jaime Tan at his place of work can\u2019t believe what they see. Tan works for Artisan Green and the company culti\u00advates spinach, baby kale, and herbs. However, you will not find any fields here. Instead, the General Manager\u2019s desk is located on the fourth floor of a commer\u00adcial building in Singa\u00adpore. Growing [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"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":[205,167],"class_list":["post-15935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-refrigeration-ventilation","tag-innovation","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15935","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\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15935"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15991,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15935\/revisions\/15991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}